309.12 

D496w 


Welfare  Federations 


‘By  Edward  T.  Devine 


How  to  T)o  It:  Philadelphia 
The  zIMiid-West  Spirit:  J^uisville 
Where  It  Works:  Cleveland  and  “Detroit 
“The  IPp^tional  'Agencies:  (general  (Considerations 


REPRI  NTED  FROM 

The  SURVEY 

II2  E.  19  St.,  New  York 


PRICE  50  CENTS 


COPYRIGHT  1921  BY 
SURVEY  ASSOCIATES,  INC. 


I 

HOW  NOT  TO  DO  IT: 
PHILADELPHIA 


^  inaugurated  a  plan  of  a  different  kind,  in  which  the  social 
agencies  are  not  so  much  participants  as  beneficiaries,  whether 
willing  or  reluctant.  Pittsburgh  has  taken  the  matter  up  on 
the  same  initiative  but  is  not  committed  to  the  same  plan. 
New  Orleans,  where  it  was  tried  and  abandoned,  is  again  in 
the  throes  of  federation.  Harrisburg  has  established  a  fed¬ 
eration.  Seattle  has  announced  a  community  chest  which 
^  at  the  moment  of  its  birth  may  prove  to  be  a  changeling,  a 
-  real  federation  of  social  agencies.  Tacoma  is  starting  con¬ 
's^  temporaneously  a  community  chest  and  a  cotincil  of  social 
^  agencies  and  the  twins  may  have  Siamese  ligaments. 

>  The  rapidity  of  this  spread  of  the  movement  for  a  kind 
of  federation  which  includes  among  other  features  the  finan- 
^  cial  function  even  when  this  is  not  the  sole  or  dominating 
>^purpose  is  the  more  remarkable  because  there  is  no  organized 
^propaganda  behind  it,  and  because  it  has  been  in  the  face  of 
an  adverse  report  issued  four  years  ago  by  the  American 
/  Association  for  Organizing  Family  Social  Work.  The  fed- 
vcrations  have  a  somewhat  informal  gathering  from  time  to 
time,  which  is  inaptly  known  as  the  American  Association  for 
^  Community  Organization.  While  the  name  of  this  loose  con- 
ti)ference  is  obviously  a  misnomer,  it  is  only  fair  to  recognize 


4 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


that  it  is  hard  to  find  any  designation  in  social  organization 
which  is  not  a  misnomer. 

Community  organization  is  a  complex  process  whose  varied 
aspects — religious,  philanthropic,  educational,  economic — 
have  varying  degrees  of  importance  according  to  the  point  of 
view.  The  chamber  of  commerce  really  seems  to  many  people 
an  ideal  form  of  community  organization.  Its  members  sup¬ 
port  the  colleges,  churches,  and  philanthropies.  Why  should 
they  not  control  them  ?  Or,  as  it  would  be  more  likely  to  be 
expressed,  why  should  they  continue  to  support  agencies  which 
do  not  conduct  their  affairs  in  a  business-like  and  sensible 
way?  In  a  quite  different  world,  whose  inhabitants  in  the 
mass  are  not  entirely  unknown  to  business  men,  a  central 
trades  and  labor  council  may  appear  to  be  the  normal  method 
of  bringing  together  all  whose  views  and  preferences  need  to 
be  considered  seriously.  A  church  federation,  again,  may  fill 
the  whole  horizon;  or  a  community  council  of  which  the* 
public  school  building  is  the  physical  center. 

Among  these  naive  and  divisive  views  we  must  class  that 
which  regards  a  council  of  social  agencies  as  an  ideal  plan 
of  community  organization  provided  it  is  ‘^functional,”  by 
which  appears  to  be  meant  that  it  does  not  function  in  the 
raising  of  funds,  but  may  in  almost  any  other  direction, 
especially  in  the  verbal  exchange  of  views.  After  visiting 
nearly  all  of  the  cities  in  which  there  are  flourishing  federa¬ 
tions,  East,  West  and  South,  including  several,  like  St.  Louis 
and  Chicago,  in  which  there  are  councils  but  no  financial 
federations,  and  others,  like  Louisville  and  Milwaukee,  in 
which  there  are  councils  financed  by,  but  otherwise  indepen¬ 
dent  of  their  financial  federations,  I  am  unable  to  share  the 
preference  for  “functional,”  i.  e.,  non-financial,  federations, 
and  I  am  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  social  workers  are  miss- 
^  great  opportunity  if  they  do  not  insist  on  taking  a  very 


HOW  NOT  TO  DO  IT 


5 


active  and  whole-hearted  part  in  the  kind  of  federation  which 
appeals  to  representative  business  and  civic  bodies  because  it 
recognizes  that  common  finance  is  one  of  the  surest  and  most 
legitimate  means  of  encouraging  the  union  of  the  philan¬ 
thropic  and  civic  agencies  in  a  community  program. 

The  fact  appears  to  be  that  financial  co-operation  is  one  of 
the  very  best  ways  to  accomplish  the  constructive  educational 
results  for  which  any  council  would  be  created.  As  Robert 
E.  Lewis,  the  general  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in 
Cleveland,  has  said : 

The  acid  test  of  cooperation  is  the  use  of  money.  It  means 
very  little  to  hear  papers  in  conference  and  to  vote  platonic 
resolutions.  Unless  you  cooperate  financially,  talk  of  cooperation 
means  very  little.  But  when  associations  and  welfare  insti¬ 
tutions  in  a  city  with  every  sort  of  affiliation  and  control  are 
willing  to  budget  in  the  open,  welcome  public  audit,  shape 
their  work  in  a  unified  way  and  stimulate  one  another  to  frank 
and  full  efficiency,  it  means  something. 

The  astounding  opinion  has  been  expressed  in  the  opposi¬ 
tion  to  financial  federation  that  the  welfare  institutions  have 
nothing  in  common  to  justify  their  common  appeal;  that  it 
is  no  easier  for  them  to  engage  in  common  publicity  than  it 
would  be  to  advertise  at  once  a  butcher  shop,  a  lawyer’s 
office  and  a  bank.  If  this  is  so,  the  National  Conference  of 
Social  Work  is  evidently  a  mistake.  The  Russell  Sage  Foun¬ 
dation  in  its  several  departments  is  striving  for  incompatible 
ends.  The  Survey  has  no  natural  constituency.  Poverty, 
disease,  crime,  ignorance  have  no  common  origins  or  remedies. 
The  sense  of  community  which  have  been  awakening  should 
be  put  to  sleep.  We  may  preach  co-operation  but  all  the 
time  must  expect  in  our  hearts  that  those  to  whom  we  preach 
will  continue  to  regard  one  another  with  only  that  degree  of 
cordiality  which  a  butcher  shop  naturally  feels  for  a  lawyer’s 
office  or  a  bank  for  a  grocery. 


i 


6 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


This  is  not  the  spirit  of  a  genuine  welfare  federation.  Con¬ 
ferences  held  under  the  auspices  of  a  council  which  is  also 
raising  money,  for  that  very  reason  have  more  vitality.  Dele¬ 
gates  take  their  responsibilities  more  seriously.  Standing 
committees  know  that  there  is  driving  power  behind  their  de¬ 
liberations.  Business  men  treat  their  conclusions  with  more 
respect. 

An  alliance  of  the  civic  and  charitable  associations  to  pro¬ 
mote  their  common  ends  and  to  provide  common  services  is 
obviously  a  very  different  thing  from  an  independently  or¬ 
ganized  and  managed  “community  chest, even  though  the 
latter  may  be  called,  as  in  Philadelphia,  a  “welfare  federa¬ 
tion.’’  In  Baltimore  the  more  accurately  descriptive  term 
alliance  is  used.  In  Toronto  it  is  called  Federation  for  Com¬ 
munity  Service.  In  Cleveland  the  Welfare  Federation  has  a 
central  body  consisting  of  two  representatives  from  each 
agency,  not  more  than  one  to  be  a  paid  employe,  and  a  board 
of  trustees,  one-third  of  whose  members  are  elected  each  year 
and  not  more  than  one-third  to  be  paid  officials  of  financially 
participating  agencies.  The  Detroit  Community  Union  has  a  ^ 
general  council  made  up  of  two  representatives  from  each 
agency,  one  a  professional  executive  and  one  a  board  member. 
This  general  council  elects  the  officers  and  a  board  of  direc¬ 
tors.  In  Cleveland  and  in  Detroit  the  actual  money  raising 
is  done  by  a  distinct  but  closely  allied  body  known  as  the 
“Community  Fund.” 

These  details  are  mentioned  merely  to  indicate  that  in 
these  cities  and  in  many  others  having  councils  or  alliances 
or  unions  or  federations  which  both  raise  money  and  perform 
other  functions  natural  to  a  council  of  social  agencies,  the 
plan  of  organization  permits,  and  indeed  encourages,  actual 
control  of  the  raising  and  apportioning  of  funds  by  representa¬ 
tives  of  the  agencies  in  whose  names  and  in  whose  interests 


HOW  NOT  TO  DO  IT 


7 


the  appeals  are  made.  They  embody  the  principle  of  repre¬ 
sentative  democracy.  They  embody  the  principle  that  the 
paid  executives  of  charitable  societies  are  presumably  leaders 
and  experts  whose  voices  may  properly  be  heard  on  the  board 
of  trustees  of  any  federation  which  they  create  or  which  is 
in  their  interest.  They  embody  also  the  principle  of  building 
on  historical  foundations.  They  do  not  replace  existing  insti¬ 
tutions  by  a  new  super-institution,  but  they  unite  or  ally 
the  existing  institutions  in  a  common  effort  to  care  more  in¬ 
telligently  for  those  who  are  in  need,  to  check  the  destructive 
influences,  and  to  promote  the  healing  and  stimulating  forces. 

It  may  seem  like  straining  at  a  minor  point,  like  that  foolish 
contending  for  forms  of  government  which  the  poet  con¬ 
demns,  to  insist  on  the  inherent  advantages  of  participation  in 
actual  control  by  the  agencies,  especially  since  the  same 
people  are  very  likely  to  be  found  in  positions  of  responsibility 
whether  chosen  by  a  small  group  of  self-appointed  guardians 
or  democratically  elected  and  nominally  representing  some 
useful  existing  society.  But  even  in  the  political  fieM,  this 
indifference  to  the  forms  of  democracy  is  now  found  to  be 
rather  dangerous  policy.  The  autocrats  are  no  longer  cer¬ 
tain  to  be  representatives  of  the  traditional  culture,  the  estab¬ 
lished  church,  vested  interests.  They  may  be  very  drastic 
innovators.  On  the  educational  and  philanthropic  rafts  also 
the  democratic  principle  may  prove  to  be  the  only  safe  anchor 
for  the  valuable  cargoes  which  have  come  down  to  us  on  the 
rivers  of  time.  If  there  are  rapids  below  us  the  willing  hands 
of  many  may  be  more  certain  reliance  than  the  superior 
traditions  of  the  few.  If  we  are  to  have  federated  financing 
— and  this  appears  to  be  the  pronounced  tendency — it  is  not 
a  matter  of  indifference,  and  not  solely  a  matter  of  adminis¬ 
tration,  whether  it  is  to  be  under  the  direction  of  the  agencies 
which  are  to  spend  it;  whether  they  are  to  remain  strong. 


8 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


independent  and  vigorous  through  association,  or  are  to  be¬ 
come  dependent,  subordinate  to  a  small  group  of  financiers, 
living  by  suffrance,  cut  off  from  living  contact  with  their 
sources  of  nourishment. 

The  absurdities  and  weaknesses  of  the  traditional  non- 
federated  methods  of  financing  social  agencies  are  undeniable. 
They  have  been  exposed  frequently,  most  conclusively  per¬ 
haps  by  the  recent  study  in  Philadelphia.  It  there  appeared 
that  about  per  cent  of  the  city^s  population  are  financing 
the  general  non-sectarian  agencies — or  perhaps  5  per  cent,  if 
we  include  the  Jewish  Agencies  (which  have  their  own 
federation)  and  others  not  counted  in  the  234  agencies 
studied.  There  are  too  few  large  givers  among  the  wealthy 
and  there  are  altogether  too  many  who  in  spite  of  all  the 
urgent  appeals  are  never  directly  asked  to  share  in  the  satis¬ 
factions  and  responsibilities  of  social  work.  Essential  agencies 
are  inadequately  supported;  and  their  support  is  from  an 
absurdly  small  number  of  people.  Conversely,  those  who  do 
give  are  closely  limited  in  the  range  of  their  sympathies,  as 
indicated  by  the  number  of  agencies  to  which  they  con¬ 
tribute. 

All  this  is  told  with  frankness  and  convincing  detail  in  the 
Philadelphia  report.  It  puts  the  social  agencies  on  the  de¬ 
fensive  at  least,  for  it  is  no  more  creditable  to  have  disor¬ 
ganization,  haphazard  income,  chaotic  competition  for  gifts, 
erratic  personal  lavishness  alternating  with  indifference,  In 
the  financing  of  the  charitable  societies,  than  it  is  to  leave 
individual  families  who  need  help  to  spasmodic,  disorganized 
almsgiving.  If  there  is  any  merit  in  the  arguments  for 
organized  charity  in  the  relief  and  prevention  of  Individual 
distress,  there  is  merit  in  the  larger  demand  for  community 
organization  to  meet  the  social  needs  as  a  whole.  New  York 


HOW  NOT  TO  DO  IT 


9 


and  Chicago  are  not  models  to  be  followed  but  overgrown 
examples  of  stupidity  and  provincialism. 

It  does  not  follow  that  the  particular  plan  adopted  in  Phila¬ 
delphia  and  in  other  cities  which  have  a  “community  chest’^ 
is  the  best  way  of  meeting  those  needs.  Indeed,  the  con¬ 
stitution  adopted  for  the  new  Welfare  Federation  of  Phila¬ 
delphia  appears  to  have  been  also  a  changeling  in  the  cradle 
but  with  the  change,  so  to  speak,  in  the  opposite  direction 
from  that  which  may  have  taken  place  in  Seattle.  In  other 
words,  a  “welfare  federation’’  has  become  a  close  corpora¬ 
tion  of  givers,  mainly  of  large  givers ;  while  in  Seattle  a  “com¬ 
munity  chest,”  having  its  origin  in  a  desire  of  givers  to  be 
free  from  the  annoyances  of  many  “drives,”  seems  to  be 
developing  into  a  real  federation  of  social  agencies  for  com¬ 
mon  purposes,  including  the  raising  of  funds.  In  Pittsburgh 
and  in  many  other  cities  the  issue  hangs  in  the  balance.  Will 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  create  merely  a  community  chest 
in  which  social  agencies  have  no  other  responsibility  than  to 
get  all  the  revenue  they  can,  or  will  there  be  created  by  co¬ 
operative  effort  a  federation  of  agencies  responsible  for  sur¬ 
veying  the  needs  of  the  city,  co-ordinating  its  social  activities, 
creating  new  ones  as  required,  educating  public  opinion,  pool¬ 
ing  their  resources  of  money  and  good-will  in  a  united  frontal 
attack  on  all  the  destructive  forces  of  evil,  in  a  generous  at¬ 
tempt  to  give  the  maximum  aid  to  those  who  need  it  ? 

In  Philadelphia  the  conditions  would  seem  to  be  excep¬ 
tionally  favorable  for  a  co-operative  federation.  In  no  other 
city  has  more  progress  been  made  in  the  practical  working  out 
of  co-operative  arrangements  among  the  social  agencies. 
Their  social  service  exchange  is  financially  supported  by  the 
associations  which  use  it.  Their  “intake  committee”  has  had 
an  extraordinary  and  lasting  influence.  Executives  and  staffs 
have  been  good  neighbors  and  this  good  feeling  has  reached 


10 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


the  point  of  effective  influence  on  the  daily  activities  of  the 
societies,  especially  of  the  general  relief  societies  and  those 
which  are  interested  in  children  and  in  the  care  of  the  sick. 

The  Philadelphia  Welfare  Federation  was  created  at  a 
meeting  of  citizens  and  consists  of  (a)  its  financial  contribu¬ 
tors,  (b)  representatives,  (c)  board  of  trustees  and  (d)  coun¬ 
cil  of  social  agencies.  The  representatives  include  a  few 
ex-officio  members  and  100  persons  elected  at  the  organiza¬ 
tion  meeting.  Their  principal  duty  is  to  elect  the  board  of 
trustees.  After  its  first  year,  representatives  are  to  be 
elected  by  the  financial  contributors.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
devise  a  plan  which  would  more  surely  secure  complete  con¬ 
trol  in  the  hands  of  the  directing  group  if  this  is  desired, 
as  it  probably  is  not.  The  organization  meeting  was  of  course 
attended  by  those  who  were  invited.  Even  so,  however,  it 
was  not  entrusted  with  the  task  of  choosing  the  trustees.  The 
process  of  indirect  election  which  has  been  so  brilliantly  suc¬ 
cessful  in  eliminating  democracy  from  American  political 
parties,  and  which  has  lent  itself  so  neatly  to  communist 
dictatorship  in  Russia,  is  preferred  to  any  plan  which  gives 
direct  control  either  to  givers  or  to  the  agencies.  The  board 
of  trustees,  thus  chosen  by  “representatives”  who  are  in  turn 
chosen  by  a  self-constituted  gathering  of  contributors,  exer¬ 
cises  executive  powers,  conducts  the  business,  holds  and  con¬ 
trols  the  property,  and  apportions  and  disburses  the  funds  of 
the  federation.  It  determines  the  qualifications  of  applicants 
for  financial  assistance  and  prescribes  the  conditions  on  which 
it  shall  be  granted.  Other  federations  which  are  on  the 
representative  system  may  also  elect  their  trustees  indirectly 
but  the  delegates  to  the  general  meeting  in  those  cases  are 
chosen  by  the  agencies. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  constitution  of  the  federation 
provides  for  a  council  of  social  agencies  and  that  this  may 


HOW  NOT  TO  DO  IT 


11 


supply  the  democratic  element  which  had  seemed  lacking. 
Quite  true.  There  Is  to  be  a  council  consisting  of  one  dele¬ 
gate  from  each  association  approved  by  the  board  of  trustees. 
It  may  discuss,  devise,  and  recommend.  It  is  its  duty  to 
furnish  information  and  advice  upon  request  of  the  represen¬ 
tatives  or  the  trustees.  It  even  nominates  20  per  cent,  not 
of  the  trustees,  but  of  the  representatives  who  are  to  elect 
the  trustees,  and  the  contributors  are  expected  to  elect  these 
nominees  unless  ‘‘the  said  contributors  for  reasons  satisfactory 
to  themselves  shall  decide  otherwise.” 

No  one  who  “receives  pecuniary  compensation  from  any 
social  agency  or  association”  is  eligible  to  the  board  of  trus¬ 
tees.  That  is  to  say,  no  one  who  is  professionally  engaged  in 
social  work  is  competent  to  sit  on  the  board  of  managers  of 
the  welfare  federation  of  the  city.  What  would  be  said  of  a 
federation  for  the  financing  of  the  higher  institutions  of 
learning  of  the  board  of  managers  of  which  no  university 
president  was  eligible;  or  of  a  combination  of  banks  or 
railways  in  which  all  paid  officials  were  ineligible?  Would 
it  not  be  to  deprive  the  united  effort  in  either  case  of  its 
natural  leadership?  With  all  due  respect  to  the  big  men 
who  have  created  the  welfare  federation  and  who  financed 
the  war  appeals,  are  not  the  natural  leaders  in  the  welfare 
work  of  Philadelphia  to  be  found  among  the  executives  of  its 
social  agencies?  Are  not  Prentice  Murphy,  Karl  de 
Schweinitz,  Edwin  Solenberger,  Kenneth  Pray,  Anna  Pratt 
and  Katherine  Tucker  and  their  like  among  the  people  who 
should  be  on  the  board  of  managers  of  any  welfare  federation 
if  it  is  to  perform  any  such  functions  as  its  constitution  an¬ 
nounces  :  the  promotion,  co-ordination  and  financial  assistance 
of  associations  for  civic  and  charitable  work,  the  elimination 
of  waste  In  effort  and  expenditure,  and  the  scientific  applica- 


12 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


tion  to  social  conditions  of  principles,  plans  and  methods 
approved  by  study  and  experience? 

The  inauguration  of  the  plan  in  Philadelphia  has  not  been 
made  conditional  upon  any  official  action  by  ‘‘the  associations 
for  civic  and  charitable  work/'  They  appear  to  have  noth¬ 
ing  to  do  except  to  qualify  as  beneficiaries  and  if  approved  by 
the  board  of  trustees  to  choose  a  delegate  at  a  convenient  time 
to  serve  on  the  council.  They  will  be  expected  in  due  course 
to  submit  their  budgets^  with  such  supporting  data  as  the 
trustees  may  demand. 

The  welfare  federation,  as  conceived  and  brought  to  frui¬ 
tion  in  Philadelphia,  may  prove  to  be  a  solution  for  the  par¬ 
ticular  evils  which  the  investigation  of  the  Chamber  of  Com¬ 
merce  brought  to  light.  It  may  and  probably  will  increase 
the  number  of  givers,  broaden  the  support  of  the  social 
agencies,  widen  the  interest  of  individual  givers,  encourage 
larger  donations  by  those  who  have  a  large  surplus,  eliminate 
some  waste,  and  enable  the  approved  societies  to  make  their 
plans  with  greater  confidence  that  the  income  required  to 
carry  them  out  will  be  supplied.  These  results,  if  they  are 
achieved,  will  be  important.  The  council  of  social  agencies, 
notwithstanding  its  purely  advisory  character,  notwithstand¬ 
ing  that  its  very  membership  depends  on  the  approval  of 
another  body  to  which  the  executive  officers  of  its  members 
are  not  eligible,  may  become,  as  the  promoters  of  the  welfare 
federation  hope  that  it  will,  a  very  dynamic  and  integral  part 
of  the  scheme.  It  may  even  do  as  well  as  any  of  the  existing 
councils  of  social  agencies.  If  it  has  at  its  disposal  the 
services  of  a  qualified  paid  secretary  and  staff  its  usefulness 
may  be  very  great.  The  federation  has  secured  as  its  execu¬ 
tive  Sherman  C.  Kingsley,  formerly  director  of  the  Cleveland 
Welfare  Federation,  a  leader  of  proved  statesmanship  and 
democratic  spirit.  This  appointment  may  reasonably  be  con- 


HOW  NOT  TO  DO  IT 


13 


sidered  conclusive  evidence  that  the  attitude  of  the  pro¬ 
moters  of  the  Philadelphia  Federation  is  not  clearly  reflected 
in  their  formal  organization.  It  may  be  predicted  that  the 
essentially  undemocratic  character  of  the  original  constitution 
will  be  modified  in  due  time,  either  expressly  or  tacitly. 

The  important  thing  is  that  in  the  interest  of  clear  thinking 
the  Philadelphia  plan  should  be  understood  as  it  is  and  that 
from  its  success  or  failure  no  unwarranted  inferences  should 
be  drawn  in  regard  to  the  general  movement  for  federa¬ 
tion.  It  is  an  attempt  by  an  influential  and  substantial  group 
of  citizens  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos,  to  offer  a  plan  which 
the  associations  of  civic  and  charitable  work  will  be  bound 
by  self-interest  to  accept,  under  which  they  will  turn  over 
to  this  group  the  raising  of  their  budgets  in  common,  on 
condition  that  they  will  allow  this  self-constituted,  however 
widely  representative,  group  through  its  board  of  directors 
to  ‘‘prescribe  the  conditions.’’  Any  particular  federation  of 
social  agencies  may  be  defective  or  ineffective.  But  those 
who  are  striving  for  a  council  which  shall  be  representative, 
inclusive,  and  effective  are  headed  in  the  right  direction.  A 
chamber  of  commerce  which  is  earnestly  and  open-mindedly 
studying  the  problem  of  community  needs  as  a  whole  and 
the  best  way  of  meeting  them  is  more  to  be  praised  than 
a  family  welfare  society  which  stubbornly  opposes  the  effort 
to  find  any  such  comprehensive  plan^  or  the  national  body 
which  refuses  to  submit  its  policies  as  far  as  they  affect  a 
particular  locality  to  the  common  judgment  of  those  who 
are  concerned  with  the  same  problems  in  that  locality. 

A  good  life  for  the  individual,  a  civic  ideal  for  the  city — 
nothing  less  should  command  the  highest  loyalty  and  en¬ 
thusiasm  of  the  citizen.  The  chamber  of  commerce  cannot 
secure  these  things  or  even  strive  for  them  intelligently 
without  the  organized  co-operation  of  churches,  labor  unions, 


14 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


and  other  social  agencies.  It  is  a  truism  that  each  association 
to  fulfill  its  ends  needs  the  understanding  and  sympathy  of  the 
others.  The  difficulty  is  that  those  which  are  most  flourish¬ 
ing,  most  dominant,  most  secure  in  the  affection  and  loyalty 
of  their  own  constituencies,  are  subject  to  the  peculiar  tempta¬ 
tion  of  thinking  that  they  can  impose  their  own  program  as  a 
preliminary  condition  of  co-operation.  They  act  like  the 
Great  Powers  at  the  Paris  Conference  with  their  progres¬ 
sively  diminishing  council  of  ten  and  four  and  three,  or 
rather,  as  the  one  great  power  is  supposed  to  have  been 
intending  to  act  if  the  victory  had  gone  the  other  way,  and 
as  the  Third  International  of  Moscow  is  acting  in  its  rela¬ 
tion  with  the  Socialist  parties  of  the  world.  That  is  not  the 
kind  of  democracy  which  Lowell  described  as  a  society  in 
which  each  may  respect  himself  because  he  has  first  re¬ 
spected  others.  A  democratic  federation  is  not,  of  course,  on 
all  fours  with  the  political  state,  but  it  resembles  it  in  its 
detestation  of  privilege.  Good  ideas  may  come  from  humble 
sources. 


II 


THE  MID-WEST  SPIRIT: 
LOUISVILLE 


The  apprehensions  of  those  who  saw  a  big-stick 
threat  in  the  movement  for  financial  federation  on 
the  initiative  of  chambers  of  commerce  or  other 
groups  of  financiers  and  business  men  had  some  theo¬ 
retical  basis.  Open-minded  observation  of  the  operation 
of  the  federations  in  which  funds  are  raised  jointly  will  be 
likely  to  convince  the  observer  that  the  objections  are 
academic  and  that  the  spirit  of  control  is  in  fact  conspicuously 
absent.  This  may  be  in  part  because  of  their  geographical 
location.  The  Middle  West  is  the  stronghold  of  old-fash¬ 
ioned  American  democracy,  and  the  congenial  habitat  of  the 
federation  idea  thus  far  is  there. 

With  a  few  exceptions,  the  flourishing  federations  are  to 
be  found  between  the  Canadian  border  and  the  Ohio,  be¬ 
tween  the  Niagara  and  the  Missouri.  Until  the  recent 
development  in  Philadelphia,  no  city  of  more  than  a  million 
had  created  a  general  financial  federation,  although  Jewish 
institutions  have  found  the  principle  applicable  even  in  the 
larger  cities.  Some  of  the  most  extraordinary  results  have 
indeed  been  secured  in  towns  of  very  moderate  size.  Elyria, 
Ohio,  for  example,  with  a  population  of  only  twenty-four 
thousand,  claims  to  have  been  the  first  city  to  adopt  the  com¬ 
munity  chest  plan.  Middletown,  another  Ohio  town  of  the 
same  size  as  Elyria,  but  at  the  other  end  of  the  state,  has  a 
remarkable  achievement  to  record.  Over  a  million  dollars 
was  raised  there  by  the  Middletown  Chamber  of  Commerce 


16 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


for  a  civic  fund  from  nine  thousand  contributors,  an  average 
of  about  two  givers  from  each  family  in  town.  Not  all  of 
this  was  for  current  work  and  half  of  it  came  from  the  large 
industrial  establishments.  These  are  cited  merely  as  interest¬ 
ing  variations,  but  in  fact  variation  is  almost  the  only  char¬ 
acteristic  which  can  be  asserted  with  confidence  of  the  entire 
movement.  Nothing  could  be  more  absurd  than  to  repre¬ 
sent  it  as  an  effort  to  impose  a  rigidly  uniform  type  of  money 
raising  on  all  communities. 

By  far  the  best  answer  that  I  have  heard  to  the  appre¬ 
hension  that  federations  may  exercise  some  kind  of  indirect 
or  subtle  control  over  the  policies  of  the  institutions  comes 
from  Father  Le  Blond,  the  director  of  Catholic  Charities  in 
Cleveland.  He  had  mentioned  in  conversation  some  appre¬ 
hensions  which  he  had  at  the  beginning  but  which  had 
been  wholly  laid  at  rest  by  experience.  I  then  asked  him 
whether  he  thought  there  was  any  ground  for  the  apprehen¬ 
sion  which  I  had  frequently  heard  expressed,  that,  even  if 
federations  were  entirely  successful  financially,  and  even  if 
the  managers  and  budget  committees  had  every  desire  to  be 
fair  and  just  in  their  dealings,  nevertheless  there  might  be 
some  degree  of  unconscious  control  by  the  money-raising  and 
appropriating  body  over  the  internal  policies,  the  actual 
operations  of  the  various  agencies.  His  reply  was  quick  and 
wholly  unexpected.  “Yes,”  he  said,  “1  think  there  is  some 
probability  of  that  and  I  think  it  is  a  very  good  thing.” 
Further  discussion  made  it  clear  that  this  extraordinary 
clergyman  saw  the  full  implications  of  his  remark,  and  that 
he  meant  just  what  he  said.  His  view  is  of  course  based  on 
the  assumption  that  the  money-raising  agency  is  a  federation, 
really  representing  the  money-spending  agencies.  What  it 
comes  to  then  is  simply  that  the  whole  is  greater  and  prob¬ 
ably  better  than  the  part;  that  the  community  as  a  whole 


THE  MID-WEST  SPIRIT 


17 


corrects  the  undue  provincialism  or  excessive  institutionalism 
of  a  particular  agency.  It  is  just  the  unconscious  pressure 
which  the  sense  of  the  common  welfare  exercises  under  nor¬ 
mal  conditions  over  the  idiosyncracies  of  individuals.  Varia¬ 
tions  are  welcome  but  extreme  or  erratic  deviations  make  the 
neighbors  uncomfortable,  and  this  is  not  a  matter  for  regret 
but  for  congratulation.  Control  must  not  of  course  be  arbi¬ 
trary  or  unlimited  but  that  degree  of  influence  which  the 
social  agencies  of  the  community  as  a  whole  may  exercise 
through  federation  on  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Red  Cross,  the 
Associated  Charities,  or  a  Catholic,  Jewish  or  Protestant 
hospital,  is  in  the  interests  of  progress  and  a  rational  con¬ 
servatism. 

In  the  summary  report  of  the  meeting  of  the  federations 
in  New  Orleans  a  year  ago,  it  is  recorded  that  ‘^it  was  gen¬ 
erally  agreed  that  the  democratic  form  of  organization  is 
desirable  and  that  at  least  the  member  agencies  and  the 
givers  should  be  represented  on  the  governing  board.” 
Opinions  differed  as  to  whether  the  chambers  of  commerce 
should  have  representatives.  The  sentiment  of  those  present 
was  in  favor  of  “an  annual  campaign”  with,  however,  the 
greatest  attention  to  the  preliminary  work  and  to  the  organiz¬ 
ing  of  personnel,  and  inspiring  the  necessary  enthusiasm  and 
sense  of  responsibility.  The  “quota”  idea  should  not  be 
carried  in  actual  solicitation  to  the  point  of  an  insistence 
which  might  cause  resentment.  It  was  agreed  that  local 
partnerships  and  firms  should  be  exempt  from  solicitation, 
emphasis  being  placed  on  individual  gifts.  There  was  much 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  advisability  and  possibility  of 
securing  gifts  from  corporations  with  absentee  ownership. 
While  it  was  generally  felt  that  such  corporations  had  an 
obligation  to  the  communities  in  which  they  do  business,  suf¬ 
ficient  knowledge  was  not  available  as  to  the  degree  of  success 


18 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


in  obtaining  such  gifts  and  as  to  the  feeling  of  the  corpora¬ 
tions  themselves  to  justify  any  final  conclusion.  It  was  gen¬ 
erally  agreed  that  the  support  of  industrial  (i.  e.,  labor) 
groups  should  be  sought  and  that  labor  should  be  brought  to 
participate  and  to  feel  that  the  organization  is  a  community 
affair.  House  to  house  canvass  by  volunteer  solicitors  was 
favored,  with  assignment  of  districts  for  the  encouragement 
of  fair  competition  and  with  careful  arrangements  to  avoid 
irritation  from  unavoidable  duplication  because  of  solicitation 
according  to  business  and  industrial  divisions. 

A  professional  campaign  manager  is  not  usually  em¬ 
ployed,  the  recent  experience  in  Minneapolis  where  the  full 
amount  desired  was  not  obtained  being  an  exception  which 
seems  not  to  disprove  the  soundness  of  the  policy.  Campaign 
cost  has  in  many  instances  been  kept  below  1  per  cent  and 
has  been  met  by  interest  on  deposits.  Educational  work 
must  be  carried  on  the  year  round  to  supplement  the  cam¬ 
paigns.  Designation  of  particular  agencies  by  givers  is  not 
generally  encouraged,  but  in  Cincinnati  the  council  has 
adopted  the  policy  of  encouraging  if  not  practically  urging 
designations  and  about  85  per  cent  of  its  contributions  are 
‘‘designated.*’ 

The  policy  of  appointing  “functional  committees”  com¬ 
posed  largely  of  laymen  was  approved.  Their  purpose  is  to 
bring  the  agencies  into  closer  relationship  with  one  another, 
to  establish  standards,  and  gradually  to  work  out  a  well  de¬ 
fined  and  co-ordinated  community  program. 

The  budget  committee,  which  is  the  pivot  of  federation,  is 
constituted  differently  in  different  cities.  In  Cleveland  the 
committee  consists  of  thirty-five  persons  appointed  by  the 
president  of  the  federation  with  the  approval  of  the  trustees. 
In  Grand  Rapids  the  budget  committee  consists  of  fifteen 
members,  seven  of  whom  are  elected  by  the  agencies,  seven 


THE  MID-WEST  SPIRIT 


19 


by  the  contributors  and  one  by  the  city  Association  of  Com¬ 
merce.  The  sine  qua  non  of  a  successful  federation  is  a  com¬ 
petent,  well  organized,  active  budget  conunittee.  Careful 
study  and  scrutiny  of  the  individual  budgets  is  essential.  Fair 
dealing  and  mutual  confidence  are  insured  by  working  out 
final  budgets  in  round  table  discussion  and  not  by  arbitrary 
and  unexplained  final  action  on  the  part  of  a  budget  com¬ 
mittee.  Care  should  be  exercised  to  prevent  ‘‘log  rolling,’’ 
but  it  was  the  general  experience  that  the  member  organiza¬ 
tions  are  usually  sincere  in  the  preparation  of  their  budgets 
and  reasonable  in  accepting  criticism  of  them. 

These  conclusions  are  presented  as  indicative  of  the  under¬ 
lying  spirit  of  the  federations  as  they  appear  at  work  in  the 
Middle  West  and  elsewhere.  They  are  not  a  product  of  the 
war  chests — although  in  several  places  the  success  of  the  war 
drives  gave  an  impetus  to  the  federation  plan.  Generally 
speaking,  it  may  be  said  that  under  the  federation  plan  much 
larger  funds  have  been  raised  than  were  collected  by  the 
agencies  acting  independently. 

Their  remarkable  financial  success  has  been  discounted  in 
some  quarters  by  the  irrelevant  and  fallacious  observation 
that  they  have  not  been  able  to  get  away  from  the  “drive” 
method  and  that  “drives”  are  becoming  unpopular.  It  is  pre¬ 
dicted  that  as  we  get  farther  away  from  the  war  the  “drive,” 
i.  e.,  the  united  intensive  financial  campaign  in  which  all  are 
asked  to  give  once  in  the  year  but  to  give  enough  for  all,  will 
become  increasingly  unpopular.  This  seems  likely  to  prove 
a  hasty  prediction.  The  raising  of  money  may  be  made 
educational,  as  those  who  favor  separate  and  numerous  ap¬ 
peals  themselves  insist;  and  the  educational  publicity  of  the 
federations  compares  very  favorably  thus  far  with  the  numer¬ 
ous  separate  appeals.  This  publicity  moreover  is  not  limited 
to  the  campaign  week  or  to  financial  needs.  The  strongest 


20 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


argument  in  favor  of  federation  is  precisely  the  remarkable 
increase  in  the  amount  of  intelligent  public  discussion  to 
which  it  gives  rise.  The  columns  of  the  newspapers,  public 
meetings,  and  private  conversation  all  bear  evidence  to  this; 
but  the  final  test  is  the  number  of  well  informed  citizens  who 
show  that  they  take  an  interest  in  the  public  and  private 
welfare  activities.  Any  individual  observer  may  easily  be 
misled  in  such  comparisons,  but  for  whatever  it  may  be 
worth  the  writer  records  his  owm  opinion  that  in  this  respect 
Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Milwaukee  and  other  fed¬ 
eration  cities  compare  most  favorably  with  cities  of  similar 
rank  in  which  federation  has  not  taken  place. 

Hostile  critics  of  federation  are  always  especially  quick  to 
point  out  any  failure  to  secure  from  a  joint  campaign  the 
full  amount  that  the  managers  have  set  for  their  goal  in 
that  particular  campaign.  It  is  said  that  since  the  federation 
is  financial,  it  must  succeed  at  this  point  or  it  is  a  complete 
failure.  This  is  obviously  unfair  even  in  the  case  of  a 
“community  chest.”  The  comparison  should  obviously  be 
with  the  amounts  raised  prior  to  federation;  or  better,  if 
there  is  any  basis  for  estimate,  with  the  amounts  which  could 
be  raised  by  independent  appeals.  There  may  be  general 
conditions  which  affect  the  giving  capacity  or  disposition 
which  are  wholly  independent  of  the  method  of  appeal. 
Minneapolis  failed  to  raise  the  full  amount  for  which  the 
council  asked  for  the  present  year  largely  because  the  cam¬ 
paign,  planned  of  course  long  in  advance,  happened  to  coincide 
with  a  calamitous  fall  in  the  price  of  wheat.  The  question 
is  whether  separate  appeals  would  have  done  better.  All 
campaigns  this  year  will  suffer  from  the  general  industrial 
depression.  The  question  is  which  will  suffer  more,  the 
agencies  which  are  in  federations  or  those  which  are  not. 
There  is  no  peculiar  and  exclusive  obligation  on  federations 


THE  MID-WEST  SPIRIT 


21 


to  succeed  in  their  efforts.  That  obligation  rests  equally  on 
all  welfare  agencies.  They  must  raise  the  money  which  they 
require  or  else  abandon  or  restrict  their  work.  St.  Louis 
has  no  federation  but  its  Provident  Association  is  finding  it 
exceedingly  difficult  to  raise  its  budget.  New  York  has  no 
federation  but  the  Charity  Organization  Society  of  New 
York  has  announced  the  closing  of  its  Bronx  district  office, 
I  have  yet  to  hear  of  any  similar  confession  of  failure  in  a 
federation  city. 

Louisville,  a  city  of  a  little  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  million, 
may  be  taken  as  an  instructive  example  of  the  kind  of  fed¬ 
eration  which  is  neither  limited  to  a  ‘‘community  chest^^  nor 
yet  deprived  of  the  backbone  which  the  financial  function 
seems  to  supply. 

The  Louisville  Board  of  Trade,  which  corresponds  with 
the  chamber  of  commerce  in  many  cities,  has  had  for  several 
years  a  Charities  Endorsement  Committee.  In  Cleveland  also 
and  in  some  other  cities  the  endorsement  plan  preceded 
federation,  and  in  several  cities,  as  in  Memphis  and  Des 
Moines,  it  is  still  the  chambers  of  commerce  themselves  that 
undertake  through  special  departments  to  prevent  fraudulent 
soliciting  and  other  recognized  abuses  by  this  and  other  means. 
When  the  Welfare  League,  which  is  now  in  its  third  year, 
was  created  in  Louisville,  primarily  as  a  federation  for  the 
raising  of  funds,  the  Charities  Endorsement  Committee  was 
continued,  where  it  was  already  located,  in  the  Board  of 
Trade.  It  was  provided  that  no  agency  should  be  eligible 
for  membership  in  the  league  which  did  not  have  the  endorse¬ 
ment  of  the  Board  of  Trade’s  committee,  but  it  did  not 
follow  that  all  of  the  endorsed  agencies  would  care  to  join 
the  league.  The  separation  of  these  two  functions,  in  fact 
as  well  as  in  name,  in  this  respect  simplified  the  task  of  the 
league.  The  latter  has  no  occasion  to  make  enemies  by 


22 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


refusing  admission  to  any  charitable  institution  which  desires 
to  join.  The  league  may  devote  itself  wholly  to  the  specific 
task  of  acquainting  the  community  with  the  purposes  and 
needs  of  its  constituent  members  and  securing  the  funds 
which  they  require. 

The  thirty-one  agencies  in  the  league  have  budgets  for  1921 
amounting  to  $536,012,  of  which  there  had  to  be  raised  by 
gifts  $344,009.  In  addition  to  this,  the  Welfare  League  in 
the  year  1920  had  a  deficit  of  $51,561,  incurred  because  it 
tried  to  get  along  without  a  financial  campaign.  This  made 
a  total  of  $395,570  to  be  raised  in  contributions  for  1921. 
By  May  15,  $336,000  of  this  had  been  secured,  leaving 
$60,000  still  to  be  found.  By  that  time,  however,  it  had 
been  clearly  demonstrated  that  through  the  cordial  co-opera¬ 
tion  of  the  member  organizations  in  keeping  down  their 
expenses  at  least  $20,000  less  than  had  been  estimated  would 
be  required  to  run  the  organizations  during  1921,  so  that 
their  current  expenses  for  the  year  will  not  be  more  than 
$324,000  in  contributions.  This  full  sum  has  already  been 
subscribed,  and  $12,000  toward  clearing  off  the  deficit.  Of¬ 
ficers  of  the  Welfare  League  declare  that  they  are  hopeful 
of  cutting  the  deficit  in  two  in  1921,  and  expect  to  clear  it  off 
entirely  in  the  campaign  for  1922,  which  has  been  set  for  the 
week  of  November  15-22. 

The  league  publishes  an  exceptionally  interesting  booklet 
of  eighty-eight  pages.  The  following  paragraphs  deal  with 
its  program  for  the  year  ahead : 

During  the  year  we  shall  work  for  the  development  of  all 
possible  economies  in  the  leagued  organizations,  through  pro¬ 
moting  the  increased  use  of  the  Central  Purchasing  Bureau 
and  of  the  Social  Service  Exchange ;  through  a  study  of  dieta¬ 
ries  with  a  view  to  getting  the  maximum  food  value  for  the 
least  expenditure;  and  through  an  attempt  to  standardize  all 


THE  MID-WEST  SPIRIT 


23 


other  supplies  so  far  as  possible,  to  get  the  best  article  for  a 
given  purpose  at  the  least  cost. 

We  shall  attempt  to  make  our  work  as  effective  as  possible, 
through  developing  additional  trained  workers;  through  ap¬ 
plying  the  highest  possible  standards  of  service  to  all  our 
work;  through  careful  cooperation  on  individual  cases  of  need 
by  all  agencies  concerned ;  and  through  cooperative  action  on 
community  problems  by  means  of  the  Community  Council’s 
“functional  committees.” 

We  shall  attempt  so  far  as  possible  to  lessen  the  number 
of  people  who  require  aid,  through  a  disease-prevention  and 
health-promotion  campaign  to  be  carried  on  by  the  Louisville 
Anti-Tuberculosis  Association,  now  released  from  the  burden 
of  supporting  Hazelwood  Sanitorium;  through  the  extension 
of  the  Public  Health  Nursing  Association’s  service  on  a  pay 
basis  to  families  above  the  poverty  line;  through  promoting  the 
use  of  the  Psychological  Clinic  in  detecting  the  feeble-minded; 
through  helping  to  keep  in  school  until  properly  trained,  chil¬ 
dren  who  otherwise  would  go  to  work  before  their  time  and 
never  become  anything  but  unskilled,  low-paid  workers;  through 
encouraging  our  settlements  and  other  agencies  which  build 
sturdy,  self-reliant  citizenship  in  people  who  have  not  yet  come 
to  need  charity  or  become  delinquent;  and  through  encouraging 
people  who  have  not  yet  come  to  actual  need,  and  in  whose 
cases  further  difficulties  can  be  avoided  by  prompt  service,  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  advice  on  domestic  problems  offered 
by  such  “case-work”  agencies  as  the  Associated  Charities. 

Just  as  soon  as  anything  above  the  funds  needed  for  carry¬ 
ing  on  the  leagued  organizations  on  their  present  basis  can  be 
raised,  we  should  extend  to  the  borders  of  Jefferson  County 
the  services  of  the  Associated  Charities,  the  Public  Health 
Nursing  Association  and  the  Children’s  Protective  Association. 

We  should  as  soon  as  possible  provide  also  an  agency  for 
the  care,  training  and  vocational  placement  of  crippled  and 
otherwise  physically  handicapped  people. 

We  should  develop  a  children’s  bureau,  to  serve  all  the  chil¬ 
dren’s  institutions  in  the  city.  It  should  ascertain  the  full  facts 
concerning  all  applicants  for  admission  to  these  institutions; 
keep  in  touch  with  their  parents  or  guardians,  if  any,  while 
they  are  in  these  institutions;  find  family  homes  in  which  these 
children  may  be  boarded  out  or  placed  for  adoption  as  soon  as 
possible  .  .  .  and  supervise  these  family  homes. 

We  should  provide  for  unmarried  colored  mothers  institu¬ 
tional  care  of  the  same  order  as  that  now  provided  by  the  Sal- 


24 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


vation  Army  Susan  Speed  Davis  Home  and  Hospital  for  white 

mothers. 

The  league  includes  Jewish  as  well  as  Catholic  and 
Protestant  agencies.  Unlike  Cleveland,  it  does  not  include 
the  Red  Cross,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A._,  and  other  national  agencies, 
or  the  funds  for  foreign  relief;  and  there  are  several  local 
agencies  which  for  one  reason  or  another  prefer  to  remain 
outside  the  movement.  Some  of  them  may  think  that  they 
do  better  financially  as  free  lances.  More  often,  however,  it 
is  because  they  are  apprehensive  that  transferring  the  respon¬ 
sibility  for  raising  funds  will  mean  that  kind  of  control  by 
the  money  raisers — that  limitation  on  their  own  sovereignty — 
which  we  have  already  discussed. 

From  the  financial  point  of  view  this  is  not  a  serious 
handicap  to  the  league  or  its  members,  but  from  the  point 
of  view  of  community  organization  it  presents  a  situation 
which  has  been  met  by  the  creation  of  a  larger  and  distinct 
Community  Council.  In  this  body  practically  all  of  the 
civic  and  charitable  agencies,  whether  members  of  the  league 
or  not,  are  welcome  and  are  participating.  It  is  financed  by 
the  league,  ju'^t  as  its  other  constituent  members  are,  and  is 
thus  free  of  the  necessity  of  asking  dues  or  contributions. 
This  council  conducts  certain  service  departments — a  con¬ 
fidential  exchange,  a  psychological  clinic,  and  a  central  pur¬ 
chasing  bureau.  It  has  also  numerous  standing  committees: 
as  for  example,  on  child  welfare,  family  welfare,  neighbor¬ 
hood  work,  health,  housing  and  city  planning,  mental  hygiene, 
recreation,  social  hygiene,  and  county  welfare  problems 
(i.  e.,  outside  the  city  limits).  In  these  committees,  directors, 
officials,  paid  and  volunteer  workers  in  the  numerous  public 
and  voluntary  agencies,  consider  their  common  problems,  ex¬ 
change  experience,  investigate  new  or  current  needs,  and 
in  general  promote  the  art  of  co-operation  by  practicing  it. 


THE  MID-WEST  SPIRIT 


25 


Some  of  these  committees  may  assume  administrative  duties, 
such  as  securing  volunteer  entertaining  ‘‘talent’^  for  orphan¬ 
ages,  old  folks’  homes  and  hospitals,  or  the  enactment  of  a 
new  housing  law.  A  committee  like  that  on  city  planning 
may  have  its  own  paid  secretary.  Other  committees  will  be 
content  to  recommend  plans  which  existing  agencies  will 
undertake  to  carry  out. 

The  point  of  chief  interest  for  the  present  inquiry  lies  in 
the  relation  between  the  community  council  and  the  welfare 
league.  Even  in  Louisville  the  impression  seems  to  prevail 
that  there  is  something  anomalous — not  quite  orthodox  and 
regular — in  the  historical  sequence  of  the  founding  of  these 
two  bodies.  The  first  attempt  to  create  a  council  within 
the  league  itself  was  not  successful.  The  present  council 
appears  to  be  working  well.  It  succeeded  in  securing  the 
passage  of  an  improved  housing  law  and  has  undertaken 
the  ambitious  task  of  working  out  a  city  planning  pro¬ 
gram.  Its  secretary,  R.  A.  Hoyer,  believes  that  the  ideal 
sequence  is  the  reverse  of  that  followed  in  Louisville;  that  a 
city  should  “begin  with  a  non-financial  federation  or  council 
and  keep  away  from  money  raising  until  the  various  organi¬ 
zations  have  become  acquainted  and  have  learned  to  work 
together.  Then  the  organizations  that  desire  to  raise  money 
jointly  can  do  so,  coming  together  just  as  the  organizations 
desiring  to  do  child  welfare  work  come  together.”  In 
other  words,  “the  money-raising  function  should  be  carried 
on  under  a  budget  committee  which  should  be  much  like  any 
other  functional  committee.” 

Although  this  sounds  reasonable  and  is  in  accord  with  the 
procedure  recommended  by  the  highest  authorities,  there  is 
very  little  in  the  actual  experience  of  federation  cities  to 
support  it.  Minneapolis  is  one  conspicuous  example  of  the 
transformation  of  a  “functional”  council  of  social  agencies 


26 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


into  a  financial  federation,  or — if  one  prefers  to  put  it  that 
way — of  the  development  alongside  other  “functions”  of  that 
of  raising  money  by  joint  appeal.  The  earlier  experience  of 
the  secretary  of  the  Minneapolis  Council,  Otto  W.  Davis, 
lay  in  the  field  of  family  social  work,  improved  housing, 
etc.,  and  he  naturally  regards  it  as  fundamental  “that  money 
raising  should  rest  ultimately  on  the  group  which  controls 
the  money  spending.  Otherwise  it  would  become  necessary 
to  educate  each  group  separately  and  the  results  are  less 
satisfactory  because  of  the  mutually  exclusive  lines  of  expe¬ 
rience.”  He  sees  also,  and  in  this  he  would  have  the  sup¬ 
port  of  the  federations  in  general,  that  the  agencies  as  a  united 
group  should  “be  closely  related  to  the  money-raising  efforts” 
in  order  to  secure  “the  most  intelligent  consideration  of 
the  pros  and  cons  with  relation  to  increases  of  budgets,  the 
need  of  special  studies,  etc.”  Cincinnati's  Council  of  Social 
Agencies  also  functioned  in  other  directions  for  a  year  or  two 
before  assuming  the  joint  raising  of  funds. 


Ill 


WHERE  IT  WORKS: 

CLEVELAND  AND  DETROIT 

^  ■  ^HE  sixty  federations  which  appear  in  the  informal 
■  directory  of  the  American  Association  for  Com- 
fl  munity  Organization  include  several  which  are 
very  recent  and  others  concerning  which  little  information 
is  available.  Some  of  the  stronger  ones,  like  Milwaukee, 
Denver,  Minneapolis  and  Baltimore,  have  had  very  instruc¬ 
tive  experiences.  A  few  which  have  failed  to  profit  by  the 
experience  of  others  and  have  assumed  that  social  agencies 
may  be  financed  by  passing  the  hat  have  come  to  grief. 

Because  of  the  outstanding  influence  of  the  Cleveland  Wel¬ 
fare  Federation  it  will  do  no  harm  to  recall  some  of  the 
salient  facts  of  its  eight  years’  history  and  its  present  organi¬ 
zation.  This  history  is  roughly  divisible  into  two  periods 
of  about  equal  length — four  years  of  the  Federation  for 
Charity  and  Philanthropy  of  which  Whiting  Williams  was 
the  executive,  and  four  years  of  the  Welfare  Federation  with 
Sherman  C.  Kingsley  as  director.  The  change  of  name  and 
executive  occurred  shortly  before  America  became  involved 
in  the  World  War.  The  earlier  federation  was  primarily 
financial,  laying  stress  however  on  the  establishment  of  stand¬ 
ards  and  co-operation.  In  the  latter  part  of  this  period  was 
created  a  Welfare  Council,  which  had  no  funds  at  its  dis¬ 
posal  and  did  no  active  work  on  its  own  account,  but  held 
meetings  to  discuss  policies  and  to  clarify  opinion,  with  a 
view  to  placing  responsibility  on  particular  private  or  public 
agencies  for  doing  things  which  were  neglected. 


28 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


On  the  financial  side  this  earlier  federation  achieved  no 
very  extraordinary  results.  Some  of  the  important  agencies 
like  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  did  not  join  it. 
Some  that  did  join  were  on  the  point  of  withdrawal  because 
they  could  not  see  that  it  brought  any  substantial  advantage. 
However  it  was  making  history  in  the  movement  for  co¬ 
operation.  It  did  promote  mutual  understanding.  It  culti¬ 
vated  the  practice  of  thinking  in  terms  of  the  community. 
The  fact  that  in  1918  the  seven  great  ‘‘morale-making 
agencies”  of  the  war  united  in  a  successful  appeal  throughout 
the  nation  is  directly  due  to  the  fact  that  Newton  D.  Baker 
was  secretary  of  war;  and  that  he  came  from  Cleveland, 
where  in  strict  continuation  of  the  co-operative  community 
habit  of  mind  several  of  these  very  agencies  had  already 
united  in  their  local  appeal.  To  Mr.  Williams  and  his  asso¬ 
ciates  in  the  Cleveland  Federation  in  these  four  years  belongs 
the  credit  of  the  pioneers,  the  distinction  of  having  estab¬ 
lished  the  model  before  the  United  States  went  into  the  war 
and  the  war  chests  were  created. 

Opponents  of  financial  federation  often  urge  a  “functional 
council”  as  a  “first  step”  after  they  recognize  that  the  senti¬ 
ment  in  favor  of  real  federation  has  become  so  strong  that 
it  cannot  be  ignored.  Their  hope  is  that  the  larger  move¬ 
ment  may  thus  be  shelved.  I  do  not  of  course  suggest  that 
there  are  not  other  and  better  reasons  for  councils  of  social 
agencies  like  those  in  Boston  and  Columbus.  Surely  it  is 
significant  that  in  Cleveland,  where  the  experience  now  covers 
a  longer  period  than  in  any  other  city  except  Denver,  the 
early  steps  were  in  the  path  of  financial  federation  and  that 
they  did  lead  in  the  right  direction  of  co-operation  for  the 
general  welfare  and  in  later  years  to  conspicuous  financial 
success.  It  is  fair  to  recall  that  a  democratic  federation  must 
build  itself  from  the  materials  at  hand.  The  stream  of  as30- 


THE  WAY  IT  WORKS 


29 


ciated  good-will  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  sources  in  the 
institutions  and  activities  which  the  public  spirit  of  the  com¬ 
munity  is  willing  to  maintain.  The  first  settlements  in 
Cleveland  and  the  reorganization  of  the  associated  charities 
date  from  the  beginning  of  the  century.  Federation  has 
contributed  cohesion  to  social  action  and  to  progressive  think¬ 
ing  in  terms  of  community  welfare,  but  well  established 
social  agencies,  a  progressive  chamber  of  commerce,  and  the 
political  impetus  of  such  leadership  as  that  of  Tom  Johnson 
and  Newton  Baker  are  by  no  means  unimportant  elements 
in  the  success  of  federation. 

The  Cleveland  Welfare  Federation  in  1917  absorbed  the 
Welfare  Council  as  well  as  the  Federation  for  Charity  and 
Philanthropy.  It  had  plans  for  immediate  expansion  in  the 
very  directions  which  have  since  been  carried  out^  but  the 
war  interfered  with  their  immediate  execution.  A  War 
Council  representing  the  Red  Cross,  the  Mayor’s  Defense 
Council  and  other  interests  came  into  being.  The  Welfare 
Federation  was  advised  to  make  its  usual  appeal  but  not  to 
compete  in  a  too  active  campaign  with  the  war  causes  and 
was  assured,  by  a  sort  of  gentlemen’s  agreement,  that  any 
deficit  would  be  taken  care  of  by  the  War  Council.  In  ac¬ 
cordance  with  this  promise  the  Welfare  Federation  received 
from  the  war  chest  in  1917  $80,000;  in  1918,  $110,000,  and 
in  1919,  $186,000,  a  total  of  $376,000.  In  1919  the  com¬ 
munity  fund  continued  what  was  virtually  the  war  chest  and 
financed  for  1920  the  agencies  in  the  Welfare  Federation, 
the  national  agencies  operating  in  Cleveland  and  the  foreign 
relief  agencies. 

On  May  1,  1920,  the  community  fund  was  reorganized 
on  a  more  permanent  peace  basis.  Under  the  new  plan 
the  management  of  the  community  fund  was  vested  in  a 
board  of  forty  members,  twenty  of  whom  were  to  be  elected 


30 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


by  the  existing  community  fund  (war  chest),  sixteen  by  the 
Welfare  Federation,  two  by  the  Cleveland  Chamber  of  Com¬ 
merce,  and  two  to  be  ex  officio,  viz.,  the  mayor  and  the  direc¬ 
tor  of  public  welfare.  After  its  first  constitution  the  board 
was  to  elect  half  of  its  own  members  (ten  each  year  for  a 
two-year  term)  and  the  other  half  were  to  be  chosen  as  above 
indicated.  Inasmuch  as  the  Welfare  Federation  and  its  con¬ 
stituent  bodies  were  well  represented  in  the  existing  com¬ 
munity  fund,  and  as  the  federation  itself  is  a  delegated, 
representative  body,  this  obviously  gives  complete  control  of 
the  entire  money-raising  function  to  the  agencies  in  whose 
behalf  the  funds  are  raised. 

The  Welfare  Federation,  although  it  has  thus  transferred 
the  conduct  of  the  financial  campaign  to  the  community  fund, 
which  also  raises  the  funds  required  for  the  Jewish  Federa¬ 
tion  and  for  the  national  and  foreign  relief  agencies,  is  not 
without  direct  financial  responsibility  even  aside  from  the 
facts  that  its  executive  is  also  executive  secretary  of  the 
community  fund  and  that  their  permanent  offices  are  common. 
It  is  the  Welfare  Federation  whose  budget  committee  passes 
upon  the  budgets  of  the  agencies  in  the  federation  and  also, 
at  the  request  of  the  community  fund,  on  some  although  not 
all  of  the  additional  appeals  which  are  included  in  its 
campaign. 

The  affairs  of  the  Cleveland  Welfare  Federation  are  man¬ 
aged  by  a  general  board  composed  of  two  representatives  of 
each  of  the  agencies  in  its  membership.  The  paid  executive 
of  the  association  may  be  and  is  likely  to  be  one  of  these 
two  representatives  and  the  president  or  some  other  members 
of  the  board  the  other.  The  general  board  elects  a  board  of 
trustees  of  twenty-four  members,  eight  each  year  for  a  three- 
year  term.  This  board  meets  semi-monthly,  appoints  com- 


THE  WAY  IT  WORKS 


31 


mittees  and  directs  the  work  of  the  federation  through  the 
director  and  his  staff. 

The  budget  committee — the  very  center  and  heart  of  the 
whole  federation — is  in  Cleveland  appointed  by  the  president 
of  the  federation,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  trustees.  In 
some  other  cities  this  committee  is  elected  by  the  trustees,  or 
even  in  part  by  the  agencies.  The  Cleveland  plan  has  worked 
satisfactorily  because  great  care  has  been  taken  to  appoint  a 
committee  which  shall  be  both  competent  and  acceptable  to 
the  agencies.  While  some  of  its  members  are  continued  from 
year  to  year  to  secure  continuity  of  policy,  others  are  changed 
in  order  to  distribute  the  very  valuable  educational  expe¬ 
rience  incident  to  this  service.  While  the  Welfare  Federa¬ 
tion  through  its  budget  committee  and  its  affiliation  with  the 
community  fund  thus  plays  an  essential  part  in  financing  the 
charitable  agencies,  its  most  important  achievements  have 
been  in  quite  other  directions,  and  especially  in  searching 
study  of  the  local  problems  with  which  these  agencies  deal. 

The  Community  Union  in  Detroit  corresponds  to  the  Wel¬ 
fare  Federation  of  Cleveland.  Like  the  latter  it  is  allied 
with  a  community  fund  or  money-raising  body  by  an  over¬ 
lapping  directorate  and  staffs  a  common  executive,  and  com¬ 
mon  headquarters.  There  are,  however,  some  interesting 
differences.  The  patriotic  fund  of  the  war  period  has 
changed  its  name  to  community  fund  but  it  has  not  been 
reorganized  as  in  Cleveland.  It  is  still  in  effect  a  self- 
constituted  body,  although  with  a  strong  sense  of  trusteeship. 
It  appears  to  command  the  confidence  of  givers  and  of  the 
agencies  but  it  is  not  a  delegated  body.  The  new  Phila¬ 
delphia  Welfare  Federation  may  therefore  rightly  claim  that 
it  is  following  the  conspicuously  successful  example  of  the 
Detroit  Community  Fund  if  its  aim  is  to  serve  only  the  pur¬ 
pose  which  this  collecting  agency  serves. 


32 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


Another  difference  between  the  Cleveland  and  the  Detroit 
history  is  that  in  Detroit  the  patriotic  fund  during  the  war 
definitely  undertook  to  finance  the  local  agencies  as  well  as 
the  Red  Cross  and  other  war  activities.  The  Detroit  Com¬ 
munity  Union  did  not  make  its  own  appeal  as  did  the  Cleve¬ 
land  Welfare  Federation.  The  resemblances,  however,  are 
far  more  striking.  In  Detroit  as  in  Cleveland  the  Com¬ 
munity  Union  is  managed  by  a  general  board  or  council 
made  up  of  two  delegates  from  each  of  the  fifty-seven  associa¬ 
tions  in  its  membership.  This  general  council  elects  the 
officers  and  board  of  directors.  The  budget  after  approval  by 
the  budget  committee  is  finally  acted  upon  by  the  board  of 
directors.  While  the  community  fund,  both  in  Detroit  and 
in  Cleveland,  might  no  doubt  object  to  the  budget  submitted 
on  behalf  of  the  agencies  of  their  federation,  it  does  not  in 
fact  do  so.  The  determination  of  the  budget  is  regarded  as 
a  highly  specialized  and  responsible  function  and  the  group 
which  assumes  responsibility  for  raising  the  combined  bud¬ 
gets,  while  giving  attention  to  the  demands  of  the  activities 
not  in  the  federation,  leaves  to  the  latter  the  responsibility  for 
the  decisions  as  to  the  federated  agencies. 

Federation  in  Detroit  is  perhaps  less  securely  established 
than  in  Cleveland.  Some  institutions  remain  outside.  More 
individuals  are  hostile  even  to  the  idea.  There  are  more 
independent  solicitations.  There  are  not  so  many  who  under¬ 
stand  the  advantages  of  federation,  and  the  inherent  difficul¬ 
ties  to  be  overcome  are  greater.  The  city  is  larger  but  its 
industries,  centering  in  automobile  manufacture,  are  less  bal¬ 
anced  and  stable,  its  social  agencies  are  less  developed.  De¬ 
velopments  comparable  to  those  of  twenty  years  ago  in  Cleve¬ 
land  have  been  taking  place  within  the  last  five  years.  Except 
for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  the  denomi¬ 
national  activities  and  a  few  meagerly  supported  agencies, 


THE  WAY  IT  WORKS 


33 


there  was  but  little  social  work  in  Detroit  at  the  time  when, 
the  enormous  growth  of  the  automobile  industry  and  the 
war  conditions  precipitated  an  urgent  need  for  social  control 
and  social  action.  William  J.  Norton,  the  executive  secre¬ 
tary  of  the  Community  Union^  who  is  also  the  executive  of 
the  community  fund,  is  a  person  of  ideas,  of  energy  and 
shrewd  judgment  of  men.  I  am  told  that  his  caustic  tongue 
sometimes  gives  offense,  but  he  is  evidently  at  home  among 
men  of  affairs,  able  to  hold  his  own  in  the  give  and  take 
of  serious  discussions  and  to  take  part  on  equal  terms  in  the 
making  of  decisions  which  affect  the  interests  of  the  entire 
community.  He  was  able  to  stand  for  the  principle  of  free 
assembly  and  free  speech  at  a  time  when  they  were  jeopard¬ 
ized,  without  becoming  known  as  a  dangerous  revolutionary. 
He  is  known  to  favor  liberal  policies  in  general  even  when 
he  has  to  be  the  spokesman  for  groups  which  the  average 
liberal  would  probably  regard  as  reactionary,  at  least  as  to 
such  matters  as  the  open  shop  and  collective  bargaining. 

In  certain  circles  it  has  become  customary  to  assume  that 
the  ^Mrive^’  as  a  means  of  raising  money  has  become  unpopu¬ 
lar — that  its  day  is  over.  They  do  not  think  so  in  Detroit. 
They  say  that  what  is  unpopular  is  multiplicity  of  drives  and 
certain  kinds  of  drives;  that  the  intensive  campaign  of  one 
week  as  a  substitute  for  scores  of  independent  appeals  by 
separate  agencies  is  not  unpopular  but  on  the  contrary  very 
much  in  favor.  By  accident  I  happened  to  be  in  Detroit 
on  the  day  when  the  captains  of  divisions  held  their  first 
meeting  to  “set  up’’  the  general  plans  for  the  campaign  for 
1922.  The  general  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  in 
the  chair.  The  president  of  the  community  fund  and  other 
prominent  and  influential  business  men  were  among  the  nine 
persons  present.  Three  of  the  nine  were  paid  executives  such 
as  under  the  constitution  of  the  Philadelphia  Welfare  Fed- 


34 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


eration  would  not  even  be  allowed  to  serve  on  its  board  of 
managers. 

The  question  as  to  whether  any  other  method  than  an 
intensive  campaign  or  “drive’’  would  be  used  was  not  even 
raised  except  by  myself  and  in  answer  to  a  question  I  was 
told  that  there  was  no  objection,  but  on  the  contrary  entire 
agreement  that  this  method  was  the  most  acceptable  and  the 
most  certain  to  be  successful. 

Thorough  and  intelligent  consideration  was  given  to  the 
filling  of  vacancies  in  the  campaign  body.  What  seemed  to 
me  most  remarkable  and  encouraging  was  that  the  strongest 
and  most  successful  organizers  from  the  war  period  were 
remaining  at  their  posts,  that  what  changes  were  made  were 
not  because  they  were  losing  their  best  men  but  only  or 
mainly  in  order  to  enlist  the  very  best  men  in  the  city  whose 
services  had  not  already  been  fully  utilized  or  who  were  now 
free  from  some  other  even  more  pressing  obligation.  One 
qualified  man  they  were  inclined  not  to  press  too  hard  be¬ 
cause  he  was  in  charge  of  a  new  manufacturing  enterprise 
which  was  weathering  a  difficult  period  and  actually  de¬ 
manded  all  his  time,  but  this  was  exceptional.  The  general 
idea  was  that  no  one  was  too  busy  or  too  important  to  be 
called  into  this  common  service  for  the  week  of  the  cam¬ 
paign  and  the  fortnight  or  so  of  necessary  preparation.  The 
relation  of  the  Red  Cross  roll  call  to  the  campaign  of  the 
community  fund  was  most  carefully  and  sympathetically  con¬ 
sidered.  The  president  of  the  fund  had  just  returned  from 
a  personal  conference  in  Washington  with  the  director  of 
domestic  operations.  It  was  recognized  that  the  fund  would 
have  to  be  prepared  to  include  the  supplementary  demands 
of  the  Red  Cross  as  well  as  its  roll  call  and  on  the  other 
hand  it  was  realized  that  full  advantage  should  be  taken 
of  the  Red  Cross  plans  and  interest  in  the  appeal  and  that 


THE  WAY  IT  WORKS 


35 


the  available  resources  latent  in  the  active  Red  Cross  mem¬ 
bership  should  be  fully  utilized.  This  is  typical  of  the  gen¬ 
eral  attitude  of  these  managers,  who  were  thus  carefully 
laying  out  their  campaign  seven  months  in  advance. 

Detroit  has  made  less  use  than  Cleveland  of  collections 
from  workers  in  industrial  plants.  This  is  due  in  part,  as  far 
as  the  recent  campaign  is  concerned,  to  the  falling  off  in 
employment  and  the  actual  or  prospective  decrease  of  ability 
to  give  on  the  part  of  wage-earners.  It  was  felt  that  under 
the  circumstances  it  would  be  unfair  to  ask  them  to  give, 
or  at  least  to  appear  to  bring  any  pressure  to  bear  on  them 
by  the  plan  of  plant  solicitation.  However  the  program  of 
1922  does  not  exclude  the  industrial  appeals  and  whether  or 
not  they  will  be  made  will  no  doubt  depend  on  the  general 
industrial  conditions  in  November. 

The  goal  of  the  campaign  of  last  November  was 
$2,560,000.  The  direct  returns  before  the  end  of  the  year 
were  $2,454,000.  The  deficit  of  $106,000  for  the  current 
year  will  be  met  without  serious  retrenchment.  No  city  of 
course  has  been  more  seriously  affected  by  the  industrial  de¬ 
pression  than  Detroit.  Seventy-nine  factories  employing  two- 
thirds  of  the  industrial  population  of  Detroit  had  25,000 
employes  in  December  as  compared  with  200,000  nine  months 
before.  In  other  words  seven-eighths  of  its  workers  were 
unemployed.  The  Ford  employes  had  their  bonus  and  the 
Dodge  employes  no  doubt  had  some  savings,  but  the  large 
number  employed  in  the  smaller  establishments,  as  for 
example  in  those  which  make  automobile  accessories,  often 
had  no  reserve  resources.  This  was  especially  true  of  the 
Negroes  who  had  come  to  Detroit  from  the  South  or  more 
frequently  from  other  northern  cities,  and  of  the  Mexicans 
who  had  come  from  Mexico  to  work  in  the  sugar-beet  fields. 
As  far  as  this  became  a  relief  problem  it  fell  chiefly  on  the 


36 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


Department  of  Public  Welfare,  although  the  St.  Vincent  de 
Paul  Society,  the  Home  Service  of  the  Red  Cross,  and  other 
agencies  in  the  Detroit  community  union,  and  the  Housing 
Bureau  of  the  union  itself,  had  their  burdens  substantially 
increased.  The  Community  Union  had  co-operated  when 
the  need  arose  with  the  Department  of  Public  Welfare,  for 
example,  by  supplying  the  services  of  a  competent  case 
worker,  and  again  with  the  courts  by  supplying  a  probation 
officer.  This  emergency,  however,  was  one  which  could  be 
met  only  by  an  appropriation  of  public  funds  in  substantial 
amount  and  the  union  worked  with  the  city  administration  to 
secure  action  by  the  council.  Between  January  1  and  June  30 
the  city  will  have  expended  $1,100^000  for  relief  and  it  is 
expected  that  the  coming  fall  and  winter  will  bring  an  even 
more  serious  problem  of  unemploj^ment.  The  Department  of 
Public  Welfare  in  April  presented  a  scene  of  emergency  ac¬ 
tivity  creditable  to  the  officials  and  to  the  social  workers 
of  the  city.  It  was  of  course  an  emergency  and  the  methods 
were  those  appropriate  to  an  emergency.  It  was  amusing  to 
find  that  about  one-fourth  of  the  extra  workers  required  were 
recruited  from  the  late  lamented  sociological  department  of 
the  Ford  plant.  The  main  thing  is  that  the  mayor,  a  former 
partner  in  the  Ford  enterprise  and  a  thoroughgoing  reformer; 
the  commissioner  of  the  Department  of  Public  Welfare,  who 
is  earnestly  trying  to  square  his  departmental  administration 
with  the  mayor’s  ideas;  the  director  of  the  Social  Service 
Bureau  in  the  department,  who  was  formerly  in  the  Com¬ 
munity  Union;  the  City  Council;  and  the  managers  of  the 
Community  Union,  represented  in  this  instance  by  our  old 
friend  Fred  R.  Johnson,  formerly  secretary  of  the  Associated 
Charities  of  Boston — all  recognized  the  acute  character  of 
the  relief  problem  presented  by  the  trade  depression.  They 
measured  it,  recognizing  that  it  could  be  cured  only  by 


THE  WAY  IT  WORKS 


37 


resumption  in  industry  but  that  the  consequences  of  it  should 
not  fall  too  heavily  on  individuals;  and  they  treated  it  as  a 
community  responsibility.  Other  cities  have  done  this  more 
or  less.  Detroit,  where  it  fell  most  heavily,  seems  to  me 
to  have  done  it  surprisingly  well  and  I  think  this  may  be 
attributed  in  part  to  the  existence  of  the  Community  Union 
and  the  underlying  sense  of  civic  responsibility  which  this 
both  implies  and  encourages. 


IV 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES: 

GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

National  agencies  for  the  promotion  of  social 
welfare  have  a  common,  although  not  altogether 
identical,  interest  in  the  federation  movement.  The 
very  term  “national  agencies”  covers  activities  which  differ 
not  only,  like  the  local  agencies,  in  their  specific  aims,  but, 
even  more  widely  than  the  local  agencies,  in  their  form  of 
organization  and  its  relation  to  their  means  of  financial  sup¬ 
port.  The  American  Red  Cross  has  its  annual  roll  call  in 
which  it  desires  to  enlist  as  nearly  as  possible  the  whole  body 
of  American  citizens.  The  National  Tuberculosis  Associa¬ 
tion  has  its  seal  sale,  through  which  it  desires  to  reach  all 
the  people  in  order  to  keep  alive  their  interest  in  the  crusade 
against  the  white  plague.  The  Boy  Scouts  have  a  program 
in  which  they  wish  to  enlist  all  boys  of  appropriate  age. 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has  perhaps  the  hardest  question  to  settle 
in  connection  with  federation.  It  is  national  and  interna¬ 
tional,  but  its  local  branches  are  largely  autonomous.  It  is 
Protestant  and  evangelical  but  not  sectarian.  It  is  educa¬ 
tional,  recreational,  and  religious.  Although  difficult  to  clas¬ 
sify,  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  eligibility  to  membership  in  a 
federation  of  social  agencies.  The  difficulty  arises  in  another 
direction  and  is  typical.  The  association  has  a  large  and 
loyal  constituency.  It  has  critics  also,  but  that  is  another 
story  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  present  one  except  that 
hostility  to  any  one  agency  may  sometimes  be  so  strong  as  to 
become  an  appreciable  factor  in  the  general  financial  cam- 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES 


39 


paign.  These  loyal  constituents  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  provide 
not  only  current  funds  but  new  buildings  and  equipment. 
They  are  beginning  to  leave  legacies.  Probably  the  associa¬ 
tion  is  a  beneficiary  in  many  wills  already  drawn,  but  subject 
to  change  while  the  testators  live.  Can  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
afford  to  see  this  constituency  transferred  to  a  federation  of 
all  the  social  agencies,  secular  and  religious^  Protestant,  Jew¬ 
ish,  and  Catholic?  Even  if  the  federation  furnishes  the 
amount  required  for  present  annual  needs,  is  there  any  assur¬ 
ance  of  permanency  ?  Is  there  a  suitable  margin  for  growth  ? 
Is  there  not  a  certainty  of  loss  if  the  intense  personal  loyalty 
to  the  association  is  merged  in  a  more  vague  and  diffused 
interest  in  the  community?  These  are  serious  considera¬ 
tions.  They  may  arise  in  the  case  of  other  agencies  but 
they  have  in  fact  arisen  most  persistently  and  have  found  most 
articulate  expression  in  the  case  of  the  association. 

There  are  none  who  have  seen  more  clearly  than  the  gen¬ 
eral  secretaries  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  cities  which,  like 
Cleveland  and  Detroit,  have  had  most  experience  with  joint 
financial  campaigns,  that  such  considerations  are  relics  of  an 
institutional  partisanship,  of  a  sectarian  provincial  view.  The 
institution  exists  to  foster  the  general  good.  It  should  de¬ 
fend  its  claims  in  a  reasonable,  fair,  and  public  presentation, 
and  in  comparison  with  claims  for  support  from  other 
agencies  which  also  exist  for  the  good  of  society.  When 
the  institution  becomes  the  end  instead  of  the  instrument, 
the  final  instead  of  the  intermediate  object  of  loyalty,  devotion 
and  enthusiasm,  it  defeats  its  end.  Associations  for  civic, 
religious,  and  charitable  purposes  above  all  others  need  to 
keep  clearly  before  their  members  that  individual  welfare 
and  the  common  welfare  are  their  only  excuse  for  being. 
They  must  therefore  confer  together  and  work  together  in 
the  interests  of  individuals  and  the  interests  of  the  common 


40 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


good;  else  they  will  waste  their  resources  and  may  even 
thwart  other  and  perhaps  better  projects  than  their  own. 
If  there  is  a  conflict  of  loyalties,  the  larger  loyalty,  the  one 
which  subordinates  the  particular  institution  or  agency  to  the 
central  idea  of  a  high  standard  of  life  in  the  community  as  a 
whole,  must  prevail. 

The  National  Consumers’  League  and  the  National  Child 
Labor  Committee  present  more  simply  one  of  the  problems 
which  will  have  to  be  faced  if  the  local  welfare  federations 
are  to  continue  to  occupy  the  strong  position  which  they 
have  attained  in  a  few  cities  and  if  the  movement  is  to  become 
general.  These  two  and  several  other  national  associations 
are  dealing  with  controversial  subjects.  The  evils  which  they 
attack  have  apologists  and  defenders.  The  reforms  which 
they  advocate  cannot  be  carried  through  without  angry  op¬ 
position.  They  are  obliged  to  insist  on  the  duty  of  the  state 
to  protect  certain  workers  from  practices  which  are  profitable 
to  individual  employers,  and  even  to  parents.  Their  pro¬ 
grams  may  run  counter  to  the  general  philosophy  of  some 
very  good  citizens  who  have  no  selfish  private  interest  at 
stake.  Of  course,  these  two  bodies  do  not  have  identical 
programs  and  either  or  both  of  them  may  include  in  their 
activities  certain  objects  which  are  generally  popular.  The 
Y.  W.  C.  A.  has  also  of  late  attracted  to  itself  the  enviable 
kind  of  hostility  to  which  I  refer  and  might  equally  be 
chosen  to  point  the  issue. 

Are  the  welfare  federations  to  regard  themselves  as  repre¬ 
senting  only  the  majority  sentiment  in  deciding  which  or¬ 
ganizations  are  to  be  included  in  their  plans  for  the  joint 
raising  of  funds  or  should  they  make  provision  also  for  or¬ 
ganizations  which  in  the  nature  of  the  case  would  be  sup¬ 
ported  only  by  a  minority?  The  question  may  equally  arise 
in  connection  with  some  local  agencies — as  it  did  in  Cin- 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES 


41 


cinnati  during  the  war  in  connection  with  an  Americaniza¬ 
tion  house  whose  head  worker  was  of  foreign  birth  and  was 
for  this  reason,  in  the  rather  absurd  opinion  of  some  possible 
contributors,  disqualified  to  teach  Americanization.  The 
Council  of  Social  Agencies  after  investigation  held  that  the 
work  of  the  settlement  was  such  as  to  justify  including  it ;  but 
in  the  more  famous  case  of  the  Social  Unit,  the  council  de¬ 
cided  for  exclusion^  having  ample  evidence  that  to  include  it 
would  endanger  the  whole  campaign  of  the  welfare  agencies. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  only  basis  on  which  Jewish, 
Catholic  or  Protestant  institutions  of  social  welfare  can  be 
assured  of  permanent  support  in  any  plan  of  community 
organization  is  that  under  which  all  recognized  forms  of 
social  work  are  included.  If  religious  differences  can  thus 
be  reconciled  for  purposes  of  a  joint  appeal  for  philanthropic 
activities — and  experience  has  shown  that  this  is  quite  pos¬ 
sible — ^why  should  permanent  unity  of  community  endeavor 
be  threatened  by  differences  on  economic  or  industrial  ques¬ 
tions?  If  any  agencies  are  excluded  for  such  reasons,  they 
will  feel  compelled  not  only  to  make  their  appeal  indepen¬ 
dently  but  to  give  as  a  reason  for  seeking  independent  sup¬ 
port  that  the  local  federation,  or  the  controlling  element  in 
it,  is  opposed  to  their  program.  This  might  from  the  point 
of  view  of  an  aggressive  propagandist  body  become  an  actual 
asset.  It  might  advertise  their  cause,  and  give  it  a  hearing. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  those  who  believe  that  there  is  a 
common  civic  concern  for  the  social  welfare  to  which  appeal 
can  always  be  made,  which  needs  only  to  be  enlightened, 
informed,  aroused,  and  self-directed  when  thus  alert  and 
informed,  it  would  seem  to  be  unfortunate. 

Organizations  that  have  legislative  programs,  and  indeed 
all  that  aim  to  modify  public  opinion,  have  need  of  mem¬ 
bers,  of  a  constituency,  as  well  as  of  money.  In  the  case  of 


42 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


the  Red  Cross  the  Cleveland  Welfare  Federation  adopted 
the  plan  of  enrolling  all  contributors  in  that  body,  consider¬ 
ing  the  first  dollar  as  given  for  Red  Cross  membership.  This 
may  have  corresponded  fairly  well  to  the  wishes  of  con¬ 
tributors  at  the  time  when  the  first  joint  appeal  which  in¬ 
cluded  the  Red  Cross  was  made ;  but  it  is  obviously  arbitrary 
and  indefensible  whenever  there  are  those  who  do  not  wish 
to  belong  to  the  Red  Cross  or  who  prefer  that  this  particular 
contribution  should  be  used  for  some  other  purpose — and  it 
is  evidently  not  applicable  to  other  organizations.  Some  con¬ 
tributors  give  only  one  dollar;  of  five  dollar  gifts  it  is  an 
arbitrary  assignment  of  20  per  cent.  The  Cincinnati  policy 
of  encouraging  designations — that  is  urging  all  contributors 
to  specify  to  what  agencies  their  gifts  are  to  be  applied  and 
in  what  proportions — might  solve  this  difficulty,  provided 
each  agency  is  supplied  with  a  list  of  those  who  have  thus 
expressed  a  desire  to  be  regarded  as  contributing  to  its  sup¬ 
port,  and  provided  contributors  specify  also  the  agencies 
which  they  do  not  wish  to  help. 

An  unofficial  consensus  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  the 
executive  of  a  number  of  national,  social  and  civic  agencies 
is  found  in  a  circular  letter  which  at  their  request  was  sent 
by  the  National  Information  Bureau  in  April  of  this  year  to 
such  of  the  federations  as  are  members  of  the  bureau.  This 
was  summarized  in  two  resolutions : 

That  a  proposal  be  made  to  community  funds  and  financial 
federations  that  these  funds  and  federations  undertake  to  edu¬ 
cate  their  citizens  as  to  the  claim  of  national  agencies  for 
adequate  local  support. 

That  these  federations  be  asked  (a)  to  leave  the  way  open 
to  national  organizations  having  proper  claims  to  get  their 
own  support  with  the  federations’  cordial  cooperation;  or  (b) 
to  include  adequate  support  in  their  own  budgets  for  such  na¬ 
tional  organizations  as  make  application  therefor. 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES 


43 


These  propositions  are  evidently  only  a  starting  point  for 
discussion.  They  seem  to  indicate  that  the  national  bodies 
now  recognize  that  the  welfare  federations  must  be  dealt 
with  realistically  as  “going  concerns.’’  They  recognize  the 
wisdom  if  not  the  necessity  of  making  a  combined  approach 
to  the  federations  on  a  basis  of  good  faith  and  seeking  their 
co-operation.  They  imply  an  expectation  that  the  spirit  of 
those  who  are  managing  the  community  fund  is  as  national 
as  their  own ;  that  their  public  spirit  is  not  exclusively  local. 
This  is  gratifying  and  on  the  whole  justified,  in  spite  of 
the  narrowness  and  abuse  of  power  by  local  federations  in  a 
few  well  established  instances. 

The  welfare  federations  have  thus  far  adopted  no  uniform 
or  general  policy  in  the  matter  of  including  the  national 
agencies.  Some  support  local  agencies  exclusively  and  these 
usually  include  any  local  branches  of  national  agencies  which 
function  in  the  community  where  the  federation  exists.  Some 
federations,  while  not  including  the  support  of  national 
agencies  in  their  appeal,  have  drawn  upon  a  reserve  or 
undesignated  fund  to  make  a  contribution  which  would 
obviate  the  unwelcome  alternative  of  an  appeal  to  their  con¬ 
tributors.  Still  others  have  considered  and  passed  upon  the 
appeal  of  certain  national  bodies,  and  included  them  in  their 
campaign  on  the  same  basis  as  if  they  were  local  agencies. 
In  this  case  the  local  federation  has  to  consider  of  course 
not  only  the  merits  of  the  cause,  but  also  the  question  as  to 
what  part  of  the  burden  of  supporting  it  can  properly  be 
apportioned  to  their  own  citizens.  Still  a  different  question 
arises  when  an  enterprise,  such  as  a  southern  school  for 
Negroes  or  a  western  Indian  mission,  seeks  support  from  a 
federation  in  a  distant  city  but  does  not  profess  to  be 
national  in  any  other  sense. 

In  deciding  which  national  or  non-resident  agencies  to 


44 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


include  and  for  what  amounts  respectively,  the  welfare  fed¬ 
erations  have  naturally  followed  different  procedures  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  own  notions  of  propriety.  They  have  sometimes 
allowed  a  local  branch  or  affiliated  body  to  include  in  its 
budget  some  allowance  for  the  national  body  with  which  it  is 
associated.  They  have  sometimes,  in  the  case  of  a  national 
body  which  does  not  have  a  local  branch,  asked  that  there 
should  be  created  some  local  group  which  could  be  held 
responsible  for  the  use  of  funds  raised  by  the  federation  and 
for  co-operation  in  general.  They  have  sometimes  required 
that  the  national  body  should  furnish  evidence  of  local 
interest  by  first  securing  a  certain  sum  of  money  or  a  list 
of  members  in  the  community,  after  which  an  application  for 
inclusion  in  the  common  budget  would  be  considered.  Like 
the  informal  resolutions  of  the  national  executives,  all  this 
may  be  considered  preliminary  jockeying  for  position  while 
the  time  for  deciding  on  some  plan  for  permanent  co-operation 
is  close  at  hand. 

The  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  like  other  agencies 
which  see  both  the  difficulties  and  the  opportunities  involved, 
has  been  giving  this  subject  special  attention.  I  quote  some 
paragraphs  from  its  acting  membership  secretary,  suggesting 
a  whole-hearted  sort  of  co-operation  which  might  take  place 
between  a  welfare  federation  and  a  national  organization 
which  has  no  local  chapters  or  committees: 

In  general,  our  attitude  toward  them  should  be  one  of  closest 
possible  cooperation.  The  people  of  the  city  form  their  federa¬ 
tion  to  avoid  repeated  appeals  for  money,  and  we  should  respect 
absolutely  their  attempt  at  efficient  giving.  We  should  ap¬ 
proach  the  federations  with  the  feeling  that  we  can  help  them 
as  well  as  with  the  hope  that  they  will  help  us. 

It  is  very  important,  however,  that  we  shall  approach  them, 
knowing  that  the  time  will  come  when  the  community  budget 
system  of  giving  will  be  generally  accepted.  We  must  recog¬ 
nize  in  doing  this  that  ‘‘charity  begins  at  home,”  and  that  our 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES 


45 


approach  to  them  must  necessarily  be  one  of  education  along 
the  line  of  responsibility  for  nation-wide  social  activities. 

Long  before  the  local  campaign  begins  we  should  present 
our  case  in  writing  to  the  board  of  directors  of  the  federation. 
We  should  ask  them  for  consideration  when  their  budget  is 
framed,  and  should  accompany  our  request  with  a  comprehen¬ 
sive  statement  of  what  our  organization  stands  for,  what  it 
has  accomplished  and  what  it  hopes  to  accomplish  in  the  future. 
We  should  offer  to  send  a  staff  representative,  if  necessary,  to 
present  our  work  and  our  plan  for  cooperating  with  the  federa¬ 
tion  at  the  time  of  their  campaign. 

If  we  want  this  sort  of  cooperation  at  all  we  should  go  into 
it  thoroughly.  We  should  have  a  representative  on  the  ground 
during  the  entire  week  of  the  drive,  presenting  our  work  with 
the  same  sort  of  enthusiasm  and  efficiency  that  the  local  organi¬ 
zations  are  using.  In  my  estimation  the  most  important  thing 
in  this  connection  is  that  we  should  closely  conform  with  the 
local  methods  of  conducting  the  campaign.  If  the  federation 
begins  the  drive  with  a  parade,  each  local  organization  pro¬ 
viding  a  float,  we  should  have  some  sort  of  float.  If  during 
the  whole  week  each  local  organization  is  given  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  exhibit  its  work  in  the  window  of  some  store,  we 
should  have  some  sort  of  display,  and  we  should  make  every 
possible  attempt  to  make  it  as  attractive  and  as  inexpensive 
as  possible. 

It  seems  to  me  the  whole  success  of  cooperation  between  the 
national  organizations  and  local  federations  depends  upon  the 
contact  during  that  week  of  the  national  social  representative 
with  the  people  in  the  local  federation.  If  I  were  the  staff 
representative  I  should  want  to  do  everything  I  possibly  could 
to  make  the  whole  campaign  successful,  making  speeches  when 
called  upon,  working  in  the  factories  if  they  have  an  indus¬ 
trial  day,  working  in  the  offices  of  the  executives  when  neces¬ 
sary,  and  doing  everything  within  my  power  to  convince  the 
local  people  that  the  national  agencies  are  making  no  attempt 
to  take  from  local  charities  what  rightfully  belongs  there,  but 
that  they  are  hoping  to  broaden  the  whole  scheme  of  business¬ 
like  budget  making  and  concentrated  publicity  to  the  extent 
that  they  can  easily  give  a  splendid  appropriation  to  national 
work. 

All  of  this  would  take  a  great  deal  of  time,  but  I  feel  certain 
that  the  results  would  warrant  employing  a  staff  member  whose 
full  time,  during  the  season  when  appropriations  are  made 
and  campaigns  are  waged,  should  be  given  to  this  work. 


46 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


John  R.  Shillady  of  the  National  Consumers’  League  has 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  an  analysis  of 
the  support  of  national  agencies  both  by  localities,  looking  to 
a  spreading  of  support  over  larger  areas,  and  by  sources,  in¬ 
dividual,  federation,  and  foundation.  Such  a  study  might 
include  not  only  social  and  civic  bodies  but  also  educational 
and  religious  institutions.  The  movement  for  community 
trusts  or  foundations,  such  as  already  exist  in  many  cities 
as  a  means  of  consolidating  legacies  and  other  individual 
gifts  under  a  permanent  community  trust,  and  the  plan  for  a 
uniform  public  trust  for  charitable  purposes,  have  already 
attracted  the  lively,  not  to  say  alarmed  interest  of  national 
and  international  bodies  which  have  been  accustomed  to 
receive  bequests  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  There  is 
an  intimate  relation  of  a  psychological  kind  between  plans 
for  consolidating  bequests  in  a  fund  which  will  benefit  the 
community  in  whatever  way  a  representative  board  of  trus¬ 
tees  from  time  to  time  may  think  most  desirable,  and  the 
federation  plan,  under  which  current  activities  of  social 
agencies  are  financed  in  the  general  interest  of  the  com¬ 
munity.  In  both  cases  there  is  a  grave  danger  that  national 
and  world  interests  may  be  unduly  subordinated  to  the  com¬ 
munity  interests  which  are  thus  emphasized.  In  both  in¬ 
stances  the  remedy  is  for  those  who  have  the  national  or 
world  view — and  they  are  apt  to  be  found  among  the  leaders 
in  the  community  movements — to  guard  against  this  danger. 
Safety  is  not  to  be  found  in  blind  opposition  to  community 
organization,  of  which  we  have  too  little  rather  than  too 
much.  The  national  bodies  may  wisely  seek  to  sink  their 
roots  deep  in  the  fertile  soil  of  local  neighborhood  respon¬ 
sibility  which  the  federation  movement  is  cultivating  and 
watering  and  clearing  of  tares.  The  inquiry  which  Allen  T. 
Burns  is  about  to  undertake  for  the  National  Investigation 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES 


47 


Bureau  into  the  functioning  of  the  national  agencies  in  se¬ 
lected  cities  will  give  an  early  opportunity  to  open  up  cer¬ 
tain  aspects  of  their  financial  support. 

I  am  fully  conscious  of  the  omissions  in  this  series,  as  I 
bring  it  to  a  close:  and,  dealing  with  so  elusive  and  con¬ 
troversial  a  subject,  I  can  hardly  hope  even  that  all  its  sins 
are  of  that  class.  I  have  not  explained,  for  example,  why 
my  good  friend  Knowlton  Mixer,  who  became  secretary  of 
the  Federated  Charities  in  Baltimore  on  his  return  from 
Red  Cross  service  in  France,  remained  for  so  short  a  time 
in  that  position.  I  do  not  know.  I  am  reasonably  sure, 
however,  that  the  explanation  that  he  was  forced  out  arbi¬ 
trarily  by  the  Alliance  of  Charitable  Agencies  is  far  too 
simple  to  fit  the  facts.  I  have  not  dealt  with  the  religious 
complications  in  Worcester.  I  have  not  gone  into  the  serious 
grievances  of  the  Associated  Charities  of  Erie,  Pa.,  in  regard 
to  the  apparently  arbitrary  policies  of  the  federation  and 
community  chest  in  that  city.  It  is  alleged  that  the  federa¬ 
tion — which  in  Erie  was  formerly  a  combination  of  givers  but 
is  now  a  federation  of  social  agencies,  mainly  of  the  institu¬ 
tional  type — has  attempted  to  interfere  very  seriously  with  the 
proper  organization  and  management  of  the  work  of  the 
Associated  Charities;  that  the  federation  has  issued  orders 
which  the  society  has  refused  to  carry  out;  that  the  federa¬ 
tion  has  directed  the  society  to  lay  off  workers  and  for¬ 
bidden  it  to  make  increases  in  salaries;  that  notwithstanding 
increased  demands  for  relief  caused  by  unemployment,  the 
society’s  budget,  approved  months  before,  has  been  decreed 
to  be  unalterable.  I  have  had  no  opportunity  to  investigate 
these  charges  on  the  ground  and  refer  to  them  only  to  say 
that  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  no  federation  will  long  endure 
which  practices  such  “strong-arm”  methods.  Whether  they 
have  prevailed  in  Erie  or  not  they  are  conceivable  and  are 


48 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


among  the  risks  in  any  federation  which  assumes  the  financial 
function.  The  constituent  bodies  are  not  without  their  de¬ 
fenses^  as  the  experience  of  Erie  itself  shows.  Even  those 
who  find  themselves  in  the  minority,  or  standing  alone,  as 
exponents  of  ideas  which  they  can  defend,  can  always  carry 
their  appeal  to  the  public.  Federation  creates  a  favorable 
atmosphere  for  entertaining  such  appeals. 

Of  the  two  outstanding  types — a  federation  of  givers  and 
a  federation  of  agencies — the  latter  is  less  likely  to  develop 
the  big  stick  attitude ;  but  no  form  of  organization  will  afford 
complete  security.  Very  much  depends  upon  the  standards 
and  the  spirit  of  the  agencies  which  are  federated.  If  their 
spirit  is  narrow  and  bourbon,  if  their  morale  is  low,  then 
the  spirit  and  morale  of  any  central  body  which  they  create^ — 
whether  it  be  a  council  of  social  agencies  or  a  federation 
exercising  financial  functions — will  be  likely  to  correspond. 
Fortunately,  the  managers  and  officers  of  the  leading  federa¬ 
tions  have  been  showing  increasing  appreciation  of  trained 
service,  of  adequate  compensation  for  expert  workers,  of 
standards  objectively  measured  and  tested,  of  searching 
studies  into  the  causes  of  poverty,  of  educational  as  distinct 
from  palliative  relief,  of  an  aroused  and  enlightened  public 
opinion  as  a  constant  support  to  the  work  of  the  social 
agencies.  The  federations  should  be  judged  by  their  success 
in  attaining  or  approaching  these  and  similar  objectives,  not 
alone  or  mainly  by  their  success  in  raising  money.  The  actual 
present  form  of  organization  of  all  the  principal  federations 
has  been  greatly  influenced  if  not  determined  by  accident — 
local  and  temporary — and  it  would  be  the  height  of  folly  for 
a  new  community  to  copy  any  such  accidental  features  as  for 
example  the  relation  between  the  Community  Union  and 
the  Community  Fund  in  Detroit. 

Dayton,  O.,  has  something  to  teach  other  cities  in  regard 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES 


49 


to  the  technique  of  publicity,  as  might  be  expected  of  the 
city  of  the  National  Cash  Register  and  the  airplane.  The 
Dayton  plan  contemplates  a  trinity:  financial  federation; 
council  of  social  agencies;  and  community  council.  Seven 
labor  unions  have  joined  the  Bureau  of  Community  Service, 
which  is  the  name  of  the  federation  in  Dayton.  It  is  the 
“newspaper,’’  however,  published  at  intervals  to  inform  the 
people  about  the  work  of  the  agencies,  which  most  completely 
reflects  the  unique  Dayton  spirit. 

St.  Paul,  Minn.,  has  a  “Community  Chest,  Inc.”  which 
has  certain  merits  although  its  form  of  organization  is  one 
which  can  hardly  be  recommended  to  other  cities.  The  re¬ 
port  of  the  joint  committee  of  the  St.  Paul  Association  and 
the  Central  Council  of  Welfare  Agencies  which  led  to  the 
creation  of  the  Community  Chest  stated  the  problem  so  con¬ 
vincingly  that  subsequent  reports  both  in  Philadelphia  and 
in  Denver  adopted  portions  of  it,  the  latter  with  due 
acknowledgment. 

In  St.  Paul,  as  in  Grand  Rapids,  the  theory  is  that  the 
Community  Chest  should  be  equally  representative  of  con¬ 
tributors  and  of  the  social  service  agencies.  The  theory  is, 
however,  differently  applied.  The  St.  Paul  Association 
(chamber  of  commerce)  elects  six  of  thirteen  managers,  the 
social  agencies  six,  and  one  is  appointed  by  the  mayor.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  the  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly,  when 
its  president  was  elected  to  the  board  of  managers,  took  up 
the  question  as  to  whether  it  should  thus  indirectly  endorse 
the  chest,  and  after  an  investigation  by  a  special  committee 
and  several  debates,  decided  by  a  divided  vote  to  withhold 
endorsement.  This  meant  not  only  that  the  president  of  the 
Trades  and  Labor  Assembly  must  decline  to  serve  on  the 
board  but  also  that  the  secretary  should  withdraw  from  the 
budget  committee  on  which  he  had  been  serving  for  several 


50 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


months.  The  merits  and  demerits  of  federation  of  welfare 
agencies  and  of  the  chest  plan  of  raising  funds  did  not  enter 
as  a  determining  factor  into  this  decision.  The  reason  for 
the  attitude  of  labor  was  that  several  members  of  the  chest 
were  active  in  the  Citizens’  Alliance,  which  is  conducting 
the  ‘‘open  shop”  campaign.  It  would  be  extraordinary  if  a 
board  of  thirteen  members,  six  of  whom  are  chosen  by  a 
single  commercial  organization,  even  one  as  representative  as 
the  St.  Paul  Association,  should  be  satisfactory  to  labor, 
especially  in  a  time  when  there  are  such  sharp  conflicts  of 
interests  and  views  as  are  revealed  by  the  present  “open 
shop”  movement.  That  the  co-operation  of  labor  was  sought 
reflects  credit  on  the  managers  of  the  chest.  If  it  had  been 
understood  to  be  acting  only  for  the  agencies  to  be  financed, 
the  effort  would  have  been  more  likely  to  be  successful. 
There  is  no  prohibition  in  the  Articles  of  Incorporation 
against  paid  social  workers  serving  on  the  board  of  direc¬ 
tors. 

The  St.  Paul  Chest  takes  pride  in  its  low  administrative 
expenses,  which  for  the  first  year  amounted  approximately 
to  $40,000  or  little  more  than  a  dollar  apiece  for  its  38,000 
subscribers.  Its  auditing  department  is  highly  developed. 
This  embraces  a  regular  financial  audit  of  the  various  or¬ 
ganizations  for  which  it  raises  funds,  following  the  usual 
excellent  practice  of  the  financial  federations.  But  in  addi¬ 
tion,  each  report  analyzes  rather  more  fully  than  is  customary 
the  business  operations  of  each  department  of  the  institu¬ 
tions,  arriving  at  such  facts  as  per  capita  costs,  amounts  prop¬ 
erly  chargeable  to  overhead,  losses  in  revenue  producing  de¬ 
partments,  etc.  In  nearly  every  agency  examined,  the  audi¬ 
tors  have  suggested  improvements,  not  only  in  accounting 
methods,  but  in  business  and  administrative  methods.  This 
at  once  suggests  another  danger  with  which  social  workers  in 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES 


51 


administrative  positions  have  sufficient  reason  to  be  familiar. 
Within  their  own  province,  auditors  are  most  useful.  When, 
assuming  a  wisdom  which  they  do  not  possess,  they  under¬ 
take  to  legislate  or  to  make  executive  decisions,  they  may 
become  an  intolerable  nuisance.  When  the  executives  of  the 
agencies  assume  that  the  auditors  have  such  responsibilities 
they  are  either  shirking  their  own  duties  or  exaggerating 
those  of  the  expert. 

Probably  the  most  obvious  and  serious  of  all  our  omis¬ 
sions  thus  far  has  been  in  reference  to  the  Cincinnati  Council 
of  Social  Agencies  and  its  allied  Community  Chest,  which 
belong  in  effect  with  Cleveland  and  Detroit  as  most  fully 
illustrating  the  successful  operation  of  the  federation  idea.  It 
is  appropriate  to  end  with  Cincinnati,  where  under  the  most 
adverse  business  conditions  there  has  been  brought  to  a  close, 
since  these  articles  were  begun,  a  typical  and  successful  cam¬ 
paign  for  $1,750,000.  There  are  60^000  contributors.  Over 
six  thousand  volunteer  workers  took  part  in  the  canvass. 
Never  before,  even  in  war  times,  has  the  community  respond¬ 
ed  more  freely  or  with  more  enthusiasm  than  it  responded 
to  this  yearns  appeal  for  the  charitable  work  of  the  city  and 
county.  The  Cincinnati  policy  of  encouraging  specific  desig¬ 
nations  has  proved  its  soundness  and  wisdom  at  least  for  that 
city.  Practically  all  of  the  local  organizations  are  now  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Community  Chest.  All  of  them  appear  to  be  not 
only  friendly  but  enthusiastic  advocates  of  it.  At  the  final 
rally  over  one  thousand  people — all  the  hotel  could  accommo¬ 
date — met  at  a  banquet  to  receive  final  reports  of  the  district 
chairmen.  Every  team,  to  revert  to  war  vocabulary,  went 
over  the  top.  The  various  chairmen  and  their  workers  are 
now  perfecting  a  more  permanent  organization,  having  in 
view  not  only  financial  support  for  the  agencies  but  so  co- 


52 


WELFARE  FEDERATIONS 


ordinating  and  developing  their  activities  as  to  promote  the 
general  welfare  of  the  community. 

In  Cleveland,  partly  because  of  Mr.  Kingsley’s  enthusiasm 
for  child  welfare,  the  federation  has  especially  emphasized 
various  aspects  of  child-caring.  In  Cincinnati,  partly  per¬ 
haps  because  of  the  preoccupation  of  the  Social  Unit  with 
the  subject  while  it  was  actively  at  work  in  the  Mohawk- 
Brighton  district,  but  also  because  of  Mr.  Bookman’s  appre¬ 
ciation  of  its  importance  and  because  of  the  activity  of  several 
public  and  voluntary  local  agencies,  public  health  has  been 
in  the  forefront  of  the  advance  of  recent  years.  However, 
children’s  agencies,  recreational  agencies,  organizations  deal¬ 
ing  with  family  standards  of  living  and  with  the  correction 
of  bad  social  conditions  have  made  perceptible  progress  with 
the  enlarged  resources  and  the  more  vigorous  backing  which 
the  Council  of  Social  Agencies  has  supplied.  There  is  an 
obvious  community  consciousness  in  Cincinnati  which  during 
the  last  winter  showed  itself  in  a  satisfactory  handling  of  the 
difficult  emergency  presented  by  the  lack  of  employment. 

The  Council  of  Social  Agencies  in  St.  Louis  has  appointed 
as  its  new  executive  Elwood  Street,  until  now  secretary  of 
the  Louisville  Welfare  League.  The  Chicago  Council  of 
Social  Agencies  has  secured  funds  for  a  full  time  executive 
and  is  calling  Wilfred  S.  Reynolds  to  the  position.  For 
several  months  Boston  has  had  such  a  council  with  Robert 
Kelso  as  its  secretary.  New  York  alone  among  the  larger 
cities  is  wholly  without  either  a  council  or  a  federation ;  either 
a  community  fund  or  machinery  for  developing  a  community 
program. 

This  study  has  not  canvassed  the  work  of  the  non-financial 
councils  in  Boston,  Chicago  or  St.  Louis.  The  time  during 
which  any  council  has  had  an  executive  and  staff  at  its  dis¬ 
posal  has  been  too  short  to  permit  much  more  than  the  formu- 


THE  NATIONAL  AGENCIES 


53 


lation  of  plans  and  ideas,  and  the  present  study  has  intended 
to  report  achievement  rather  than  programs;  the  analysis  of 
forms  of  organization  has  been  from  the  point  of  view  of  their 
practical  working.  That  a  democratic  and  educational  spirit 
is  of  more  importance  than  administrative  machinery  is  to 
be  taken  for  granted;  but  that  machinery  is  also  worthy  of 
consideration  is  evident  from  the  recent  history  of  welfare 
federations.  The  ultimate  test  of  a  welfare  federation  is  not 
in  the  amount  of  money  which  it  collects,  nor  in  the  number 
of  its  contributors,  nor  in  the  degree  of  immunity  which  it 
may  give  from  annoying  drives;  but  in  the  number  of  well 
informed  and  well  disposed  citizens  whom  it  discovers  and 
associates  for  the  purpose  of  doing  what  they  can  to  secure  a 
good  life  for  themselves  and  their  neighbors. 


Said  of  The  Survey 

From  a  Lawyer — I  value  the  Survey  because  looking  over 
its  pages  I  can  learn  something  of  the  law  in  action  as  it 
affects  great  masses  of  my  fellow  men  and  be  enabled  to 
look  at  the  law  functionally  as  well  as  analytically  and 
historically. — Roscoe  Pound,  Dean  of  the  Harvard  Lavj 
School. 

From  a  Social  Worker — The  number  of  people  who  read 
the  Survey  is  to  some  extent  an  index  to  the  social  con¬ 
sciousness  of  a  community.  I  am  trying  to  get  more 
readers  for  it  in  Bridgeport. — Clarence  King,  Secretary 
of  the  Bridgeport  Financial  Federation. 

From  an  Educator — The  article  in  the  last  number  of 
Survey  Graphic,  The  Faculty  Loses  the  Ball,  expresses  ad¬ 
mirably  what  has  been  in  my  mind  about  the  big  place 
that  football  takes  in  modern  American  education.  That 
article  alone  is  worth  the  whole  year’s  subscription. — 
Frederic  Perley  Johnson,  Principal  of  the  Union  High 
School,  Hayvjard,  Calif. 

From  a  Banker — It  is  a  pleasure  for  me  to  renew  my 
contribution.  I  enclose  my  check  with  my  very  best  wishes 
for  every  success  in  your  splendid  enterprise. — Paul  M. 
Warburg,  Chairman  Board  of  International  Acceptance 
Bank,  Ne<w  York. 

From  a  Government  Official — The  Children’s  Bureau 
has  had  the  very  cordial  cooperation  of  the  Survey  in  the 
development  of  its  work  and  in  broadcasting  its  findings. 
All  the  members  of  the  bureau  would,  I  am  sure,  be  glad 
to  join  with  me  in  extending  congratulations  and  best 
wishes  for  the  future. — Grace  Abbott,  Director  Children's 
Bureau,  U.  S.  Dept,  of  Labor. 


The  SUTiVer 

twice-a-month,  serves  the  fields  of  practical 
welfare  work  through  a  staff  of  trained  men 
and  women  who  are  experienced  workers  as 
well  as  competent  writers.  It  keeps  its 
readers  in  touch  with  the  new  developments 
and  the  new  ideas  in  social  work  and  com¬ 
munity  organization  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  States  with  occasional  excursions 
abroad.  It  is  accurate,  painstaking,  well 
printed,  freely  illustrated.  It  is  published 
by  a  non-commercial  membership  organiza¬ 
tion  which  does  not  pay — or  earn — profits. 
Sample  copies  will  be  sent  free  on  request. 

STAFF 

Paul  U.  Kellogg,  Editor 

ASSOCIATE  EDITORS 

Haven  Emerson,  M.D.,  Health 
Robert  W.  Bruere,  Industry 
Joseph  K.  Hart,  Education 
Geddes  Smith,  Communities 
Neva  R.  Deardorff,  Social  Work 
Bruno  Lasker,  Foreign  Service 

THE  SURVEY 
112  East  19  Street,  New  York 


